Kat Eschner

 

Kat Eschner is a freelance science and culture journalist based in Toronto.

Marilyn Leistner, who was the last mayor of Times Beach, stands next to a caution sign erected in front of the town in 1991, not long before the town was bulldozed and buried.

How Agent Orange Turned This American Small Town Into a Toxic Waste-Ridden Deathtrap

“Walking into the houses, many of them were like people had just simply stood up, walked out and never come back”

Sourdough starters can be used to make all kinds of things: –pancakes, waffles, even cake–but the staple is sourdough bread.

Gold Miners Kept Their Sourdough Starters Alive By Cuddling Them

San Francisco-area miners used sourdough starters as a replacement for commercial leavening agents

Was sticking an eraser on the back of a pencil common sense, or a new invention?

Happy Birthday to the Modern Pencil

The patent for this supremely convenient invention didn't last long

By the time Harvard relented and offered Mary Whiton Calkins a special Ph.D, she turned it down.

This 'Brilliant' Pioneering Psychologist Never Got a Ph.D....Technically

Despite "the most brilliant examination" Harvard had ever seen, the school didn't grant degrees to women at the time

A vintage ad for Coca Cola from around the late 19th or early 20th century.

Coca-Cola’s Creator Said the Drink Would Make You Smarter

Like the wine and cocaine drink that preceded it, Coca-Cola was first marketed as a brain tonic

Corbin Fleming plays with President Obama's desk phone in 2012.

Before 1929, Nobody Thought the President Needed a Telephone in his Office

Herbert Hoover got a phone in the Oval Office over fifty years after the White House first got a switchboard

The first Budweiser Clydesdale team paraded down Pennsylvania Avenue to deliver a case of Budweiser to President Roosevelt. The fancy horses have been a company tradition ever since.

The Budweiser Clydesdales’ First Gig Was the End of Prohibition

August Busch, born on this day in 1899, came up with the concept of the Budweiser Clydesdales to celebrate the repeal of anti-liquor laws

This dioarama, which used actual human remains, is another example of the ways Ruysch used bodies to make art.

This 17th-Century Anatomist Made Art Out of Bodies

Using human bodies in this way still happens–and it’s controversial

A woman marks a bombardier enclosure for a B-24 Liberator bomber at the Ford Willow Run plant.

How Detroit Went from Motor City to the Arsenal of Democracy

Detroit already had car manufacturing capability: that turned into war production capability in the early 1940s

In the eyes of Joseph Guillotin, the guillotine was an invention in the best ideals of the Revolution: humane, equalizing and scientific.

The Guillotine's Namesake Was Against Capital Punishment

And contrary to popular myth, he died of natural causes, not by beheading

Researchers discovered the effect in hamsters while trying to find a cure for jet lag in people.

Another Use for Viagra: Curing Hamster Jet Lag

It works—but only for hamsters (and maybe people) traveling east

The University of London's Senate House inspired Orwell's description of the Ministry of Truth. Orwell's wife Eileen Blair worked in the building during World War II, when it was the real headquarters of the Ministry of Information.

George Orwell Wrote '1984' While Dying of Tuberculosis

Orwell, like thousands around the globe today, struggled with tuberculosis for many years before finally succumbing to the disease

George Francis Train, somewhere around 1855-1865.

This Eccentric 19th-Century Transportation Magnate May Have Inspired Jules Verne

George Francis Train traveled around the world three times in his increasingly weird life

This, the first passenger elevator, was installed in a New York department store in 1857. The elevator is not round, though the first passenger elevator shaft, installed a mile north of this store, was.

This Innovator Thought Elevators Should Be Round

Peter Cooper thought that round would be the most efficient shape for elevators, and requested an elevator shaft designed accordingly

Emmy Noether, mathematical genius

Mathematician Emmy Noether Should Be Your Hero

She revolutionized mathematics, and then was forgotten because she was a woman

Marcel Marceau in 1955

The Mime Who Saved Kids From the Holocaust

Marcel Marceau is history’s most famous mime, but before that, he was a member of the French Resistance

Adolphe Sax made this alto saxophone in 1857, long after he had switched to brass. The sax is still a woodwind instrument, though.

The First Saxophone Was Made of Wood

The instrument was invented by–you guessed it–Adolphe Sax

The back of this postcard calls the Fisher Building a "cathedral of business."

This Art Deco Office Tower Was the Master Work of 'The Architect of Detroit'

Although Kahn designed numerous buildings and factories, this is the one that’s come to define his work

These early Jim Henson puppets (you might recognize the frog on the right) appeared in a local Washington, D.C. television show “Sam and Friends” that ran from 1955 to 1961. Headed by Kermit, Henson’s muppets went on to wider fame.

Why Puppets (and Puppeteers) Are Still Important

Puppets aren't just children's toys, as this look into the Smithsonian's collection shows

You know what he looks like, but you probably don't know his actual last name.

Chef Boyardee Was A Real Person

What’s more: Hector Boiardi was a respected chef who even helped cater Woodrow Wilson’s second wedding

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