Mapping where the drug captagon is seized worldwide

What is Captagon, the addictive drug mass-produced in Syria?

Diplomatic discussions among Arab countries have recently featured Captagon – the addictive, amphetamine-type stimulant mass-produced in Syria and smuggled to the Gulf states. Relatively unknown outside of the Middle East, Captagon was once the...

Drug trafficking in the MENA

The Middle East and North Africa is a major source, transit point, and consumer of illicit drugs. Despite having some of the harshest penalties for drug-related crimes, the region both influences and is negatively impacted by illicit substance abuse...

The International Olympic Committee banned ibogaine decades ago

Beyond use by athletes as a stimulant before the ban, the drug has a long history. The psychoactive substance was also mass produced in the mid-20th century by a French pharmaceutical company as a product called Lambarène, which was marketed as a cure for conditions including depression and lethargy. Production halted in 1966, however, when ibogaine-containing products became illegal in France.

A map of global drug trafficking

The worldwide illegal drug trade continues to flourish. Accounting for almost 1% of the world’s financial revenue, the cocaine trade alone boasts an annual turnover of an estimated $85 billion. This infographic, from Around the World: An Atlas for...

Look up where your generic prescription drugs are made

This project from investigative journalism outlet ProPublica compiled source data for most generic prescription drugs in the US. Roughly 90% of drugs on the market are generic, and in rare cases investigators have noted issues with compliance or safety at some plants. Using your drug's name and the company on the label, find out any issues with your drugs here.

US FDA recently approved the first new schizophrenia drug in decades

Though other antipsychotics block dopamine receptors, a new drug, Cobenfy, influences dopamine levels via a different pathway—it stimulates a pair of specialized receptors in the brain that control the release of a substance called acetylcholine. This alternative approach may help patients avoid serious side effects like weight gain. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

How Western psychedelics research fell to the wayside

Psychedelics' modern era began when LSD was discovered in the 1930s. By the 1950s, clinical trials were underway. US user experimentation outside of medical settings (and high-profile violence, like the Manson murders) inspired negative attitudes toward psychedelics, leading to use restrictions that prohibited companies from patenting psychedelic compounds. This strangled psychedelics' profitability until the 1990s when the government loosened its grip and psychedelics research began seeing a resurgence.

The World Anti-Doping Agency has banned many peptides

The global body has an entire section dedicated to banned peptide hormones, including ones that may stimulate growth hormones and testosterone. BPC-157 was added to the list in 2022.

'Why'd I take speed for twenty years?': an exploration of stimulant ADHD medication

Many people with ADHD are prescribed stimulant medication to assist with symptoms ranging from time blindness to executive dysfunction. This hour-long podcast episode by Search Engine explores the host's experience with ADHD medication and the history of amphetamine and methylphenidate use in the US.

A 101 on the 'Death Cap,' the world's deadliest mushroom

The Death Cap, also known as amanita phalloides, is the most fatal mushroom on the planet, responsible for roughly 90% of the world's mushroom deaths per year. Ingestion of the mushroom wreaks havoc on the liver and kidneys, frequently leading to...

New drugs called Gepants have been shown to improve the quality of life of many sufferers.

Journalist Eva Wiseman has had migraines since childhood. Beginning with a yawn they segue into visual auras before turning into severe pain. As it so happened, she experienced a migraine during the course of her interview with Dr. Peter Goadsby, a pioneer in understanding and treating migraines as well as getting the world to treat them seriously.

A podcast uncovering drug killings in the Philippines

This podcast investigates how many people have been killed in the Philippines since its War on Drugs began. In 2016, Rodrigo Duterte became the President of the Philippines, framing drugs as an existential threat and the root of all crime, saying...

The Armamentarium is a set of new gene therapy tools to fight brain diseases

Research from 29 universities and institutions across North America has resulted in the development of 1,000 tools that provide large-scale, cell-type specific targeting for the first time. These tools may be used to alter the activity of brain cells to address some neurological diseases and sleep disorders.

Who was behind the fatal 1982 Tylenol poisonings?

In 1982, an unknown suspect laced Tylenol packages with potassium cyanide in a Chicago pharmacy. Seven people were killed, and the case led to a nationwide panic, as well as the development of tamper-resistant packaging. No one was ever charged with the deaths, and the lead suspect died in 2023 after serving time in prison for trying to extort $1 million from a manufacturer to "stop the killing."

Saccharin was banned in Canada in the 1970s, but regulators may allow its use once again

The product, commonly known as Sweet'N Low, was banned in Canada in the late 1970s due to research indicating that the sweetener could cause cancer in lab rats. Subsequent studies have found that the rodent findings didn't hold true for humans, and so Canadian regulators state that they are considering updating their stance to allow the product to be added to certain foods (the product is currently allowed in the US).

The FBI once raided Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan's home

In 2024, after Polymarket markets favored what turned out to be the winning outcome of the US presidential election, agents raided Coplan's New York City apartment. Coplan, who was only 26 years old at the time, was home during the raid and turned over his devices to authorities.

Coca-Cola was created during a patent medicine boom

A "patent medicine" is a proprietary medicine that is ostensibly created and marketed under a patent, and, crucially, is available without prescription.

Narcan is an opioid antagonist that can rapidly reverse overdoses

Naloxone, also known by the brand name Narcan, is an opioid-overdose reversal medication that typically begins working within a few minutes. An opioid antagonist, the treatment attaches to opioid receptors without activating them, forcing opioid molecules out of their respective receptors and allowing users' breathing rates to normalize.

How El Chapo’s sons built a fentanyl empire poisoning America

Los Chapitos are the four sons of El Chapo, the infamous leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel. Once dismissed as “narco brats,” the Chapitos are now key figures in the Sinaloa Cartel, accused by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) of pioneering the “manufacture and trafficking of the deadliest drug [the USA] has ever faced.” Read Reuters’ special report to chronicle the rapid rise of the Sinaloa Cartel’s new generation.

Penicillin production was just behind the atom bomb in wartime priorities

By 1943, the US War Department made penicillin its second-highest priority—just after the Manhattan Project. Producing enough of the antibiotic for the D-Day invasion became a central mission of Allied science and industry.

Synthetic pheromones may protect coral reefs by attracting their predators

Researchers in Australia and Japan have developed these nontoxic chemicals to attract crown-of-thorns starfish, which consume corals that make up the Great Barrier Reef. As of 2026, synthetic pheromones have been shown to be effective in lab trials, and future field trials will attempt to lure starfish into areas for mass removal.

Gulags were a vast network of Soviet forced-labor camps under Stalin

The USSR’s gulag system imprisoned millions in harsh, often deadly conditions from the 1930s to the 1950s. This resource features an interactive map that shows the locations of individual camps and includes stories of those who were imprisoned.

Learn about the violent history of the nutmeg industry

From the 1600s to the 1860s, the Dutch East India Company enslaved thousands of people on the Banda Islands, the world's only nutmeg source, forcing them to work on plantations under a system unlike anything seen in the Caribbean or American South.

Aspirin was the first synthesized anti-inflammatory drug

Once used by the ancient Sumarians—extracted from willow bark—but now synthesized in the lab, the active ingredient of this popular medication has been used to treat headaches and pain for thousands of years.

A 1927 map shows where Paramount shot its many productions

The skeleton key of California identified in-state locations that would substitute for shooting films abroad. It includes some interesting choices, like establishing Wales along the Los Angeles coast.

Telehealth demand for GLP-1s for weight loss is booming as consumers seek easier access.

This real-time tracking of the hantavirus cruise ship outbreak in May 2026 offers a unique glimpse into the global reach of the outbreak and whether the virus sickened passengers and their communities around the world.

Poison ivy was sent to Europe in the 1600s as an exotic, ornamental oddity, where it was purposefully grown in the English royal gardens at Kew, the Faculty of Medicine in Paris, and a few other locations.

US intelligence allegedly pursued more than 600 schemes to assassinate Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro.

Listen to an in-depth conversation on the links between Parkinson's disease and herbicide exposure and the challenging pace of scientific investigation.

One of the most famous portraits ever taken is 'Afghan Girl' (1984) by Steve McCurry, yet the subject Sharbat Gula went much of her life without being identified or benefitting from the image's success.

The American cockroach is actually from Africa, an apparent hitchhiker aboard ships carrying enslaved people, with evidence suggesting the bug may have arrived in the New World as early as the 1600s.

Stanford built a Google Maps for the Roman Empire, revealing how much it cost to travel in the ancient world

At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of young men ate standard American food—replete with food additives like borax and formaldehyde—as part of government research to better understand food safety.

Hotels in Cannes, the glamorous city on the French Riviera, hire hawks to ward off seagulls during the city's famous film festival.

Astronauts have repaired genetic damage in space using CRISPR—a molecular tool that can make precise changes to DNA and is used in single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

The US first hosted the World Cup in 1994, a tournament that lives in soccer infamy for its poor planning and the murder of Colombian player Andres Escobar, who'd accidentally scored on his own net.

Sony set the standard for cylinder-shaped batteries when it repurposed manufacturing equipment used to make rolls of magnetic recording tape.

The concept of phantom limbs, the perception that amputated limbs are still present, dates back to a French military surgeon in the 16th century.

Learn how monoclonal antibodies, which mimic the body's antibodies, can fight diseases like Ebola.

When you complete a CAPTCHA on a website to prove you are human, you may be unknowingly training algorithms for self-driving cars, whose systems require training data to help identify crosswalks, bicycles, and other outdoor objects.

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

The most expensive ad of all time was for Chanel No. 5 perfume and cost roughly $33M to produce in 2004—about $57M in today's dollars.

When caught in the mouths of cardinal fish, seed shrimp release glowing, bioluminescent chemicals, which alert predators of the cardinal fish, prompting the shrimp's ejection.

Louisiana's 'Cancer Alley' is infamous for having some of the highest industrial pollution, toxic air emissions, and cancer risks in the US.

Search a massive database of over 4 decades of clues from the TV quiz show 'Jeopardy!'

A small portion of The Winstons' 'Amen, Brother,' an obscure '60s gospel record, is the basis for thousands of hip-hop tracks, making it one of the most sampled records ever that's informally known as 'the Amen break.'

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

After the Boston Tea Party, colonists switched to coffee, which became the main morning drink for revolutionaries.