Kat Eschner

 

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

Pumpkin spice has become completely divorced from pumpkin pie.

Even Colonial Americans Liked Pumpkin Spice

A recipe for pumpkin (or rather, “pompkin”) spice appears in America’s oldest cookbook

The late 19th and early 20th centuries were full of inventions such as this--the "Pinkert Navigating Tricycle," which was meant to be used on water.

People in the 1800s Dreamed of Bicycling on Water

Despite numerous patents, nothing really ever came of this fad

The brown rat is among the few hundred animal genomes that have been sequenced. Only 8.7 billion more to go...

How Scientists Decide Which Animal Genomes to Sequence

There are an estimated 8.7 million species on Earth–it's unlikely scientists will ever sequence them all

A statue of Frank Pantridge outside the Lisburn Civic Centre in Northern Ireland. His defibrillator sits beside him.

The Irish Cardiologist Whose Invention Saved LBJ

Frank Pantridge miniaturized the defibrillator, making it portable

Portrait of a Civil War soldier group, circa 1861-65.

The Most 'Realistic' Civil War Novel Was Written Three Decades After It Ended

By an author who wasn't even alive when it occurred

Rock Hudson in 1954.

The Hollywood Star Who Confronted the AIDS 'Silent Epidemic'

Rock Hudson died of AIDS-related complications in 1985

Le Corbusier's vision for cities profoundly influenced New York, though never to the degree that this concept (originally designed for Marseille, France) was ever built.

How a Controversial European Architect Shaped New York

Le Corbusier's ideas arguably helped shape the city more than his own designs

A typical 17th-century coffeehouse scene. Controversial, right?

This 17th-Century "Women's Petition Against Coffee" Probably Wasn't About Women, or Coffee

It probably wasn't written by angry, sex-deprived wives–although stranger things have happened

The front of a Nobel Prize medal.

The Perks and Pitfalls of Being a Nobel Laureate: Early Mornings, Performance Anxiety

On the plus side, at UC Berkeley you get free parking

Nobody has ever been charged with the Tylenol poisonings.

The 1982 Tylenol Terror Shattered American Consumer Innocence

Seven people lost their lives after taking poisoned Tylenol. The tragedy led to important safety reforms

A Coco Chanel Little Black Dress, released in 1926.

Why Coco Chanel Created the Little Black Dress

The style icon created a... well.... style icon in 1926

A modern mocha

Your Mocha is Named After the Birthplace of the Coffee Trade

The port city of Mocha, in Yemen, was once a vast coffee marketplace

This portrait by an anonymous photographer shows the face of the man who popularized the flush toilet: Thomas Crapper.

Three True Things About Sanitary Engineer Thomas Crapper

Thomas Crapper's actual innovation was entirely tangential to the flush toilet

The inspiration for the bendy straw came while Joseph Friedman was watching his young daughter try to drink from a tall glass.

Why You Should Appreciate the Invention of the Bendy Straw

It's the straw that bends, not the person

Guillaume Rondelet was an early anatomist who founded his own dissecting theater, which was a thing people did in the sixteenth century.

A Sixteenth-Century Hot Date Might Include a Trip to the Dissecting Theater

Anatomy theaters were an early site for science as spectacle

Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is a more modern form of IVF.

In Vitro Fertilization Was Once As Controversial As Gene Editing is Today

The scientists who pioneered it were regarded as pariahs, even within their own universities

The historic Coplay Cement Company kilns used in the 1890s.

The Modern World Depends on Humble Cement

Portland cement is a key ingredient in one of the world’s most common materials

Vinnie Ream was not even 20 when she was commissioned by the U.S. government to create the statue of Lincoln that still stands in the Capitol today.

This Ambitious Young Sculptor Gave Us A Lincoln For the Capitol

Vinnie Ream was the first female artist commissioned to create a work of art for the U.S. government

The 'Chicago,' one of four aircraft to attempt the round-the-world trip. The others were named 'Seattle', 'Boston,' and 'New Orleans.'

How The U.S. Won the Race to Circumnavigate the Globe by Air

The first round-the-world flight was an achievement but also a surprise

"You're talking about little me?!"

Four Incredible Facts About Sea Otters

We thought you otter know these

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