Rachel Carson didn't argue for wholly organic farming

Rachel Carson's 'Silent Spring' exposed the harmful effects of pesticides on food

The 1962 book warned against the use of DDT, a pesticide often sprayed over fields of crops, cautioning that it could be harmful if ingested in excessive amounts by humans. Some credit Carson’s book with inspiring the modern environmental movement and with encouraging the US to establish the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970 and ban the domestic sale of DDT in 1972. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

Revelations that apples were sprayed with the chemical Alar led to its ban in the 1980s

Almost three decades after Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring,” a “60 Minutes” segment on the use of Alar, a chemical sprayed on apples, drew national attention and inspired supermarkets and schools to remove apples from their shelves and cafeterias. That same year, the Environmental Protection Agency took action against the use of the chemical in food.

How a single company hooked the world on herbicides

How harmful are today’s herbicides for us humans, and for the environments they’re seeping into? And do we really need weedkillers to feed the world?

J.I. Rodale helped pioneer organic farming in the US

Rodale began using the term “organic” in the 1940s to describe farming practices that avoided the use of pesticides and chemicals, which he believed were dangerous. Rodale used a 63-acre farm in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, to cultivate organic food and established a magazine, Organic Farming and Gardening, as well as a foundation based on a simple motto: “Healthy Soil = Healthy Food = Healthy People.”

Sri Lanka shows that organic farming success isn’t as simple as banning fertilizer and pesticides

A shift to better farming practices is possible, but Sri Lanka’s abrupt switch to organics offers a bitter lesson in how to change food systems in a sustainable way.

'If there is poetry in my book about the sea, it is not because I deliberately put it there, but because no one could write truthfully about the sea and leave out the poetry.'

- Marine biologist and author Rachel Carson (1907-1964)

Organic food might be greener, but it’s not better for you

Weighing in on the ongoing debate surrounding organic versus “regular” foods, health experts explain whether organic foods offer significant health benefits. Studies suggest that organic foods have little additional nutritional value compared to...

How a government chemist founded the FDA—by poisoning people

The Poison Squad tells the story of government chemist Dr. Harvey Wiley who, determined to banish these dangerous substances from dinner tables, took on the powerful food manufacturers and their allies.

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).

'Diet for a Small Planet' popularized the vegetarian diet

Frances Moore Lappe’s 1971 book provided recipes for vegetarian dishes, introducing millions to soy, sprouts, and tofu. It also argued that a vegetarian diet was a political act that could solve world hunger by redirecting food from livestock to humans.

Proof of 'natural' food claims are voluntary for most food products

Unlike the enforcement done by the USDA for meat, dairy and eggs, the FDA offers loose guidelines for using a "natural" food label on most foods, and following the guidelines is voluntary. As a result, many products labeled as "natural" can contain processed ingredients and synthetic additives.

Eduard Baltzer encouraged 'natural eating' in the 1860s

Historian Corinna Treitel credits the Protestant minister with inventing the concept of “natural eating” in Nordhausen, Germany, in the 19th century. Baltzer believed that people were consuming excessive amounts of schnapps, sugar, and meat, and that this behavior was having a detrimental impact on their lives. He encouraged a diet mostly of fruits and vegetables, though he was not opposed to food grown with artificial fertilizers.

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.

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

An investigation suggests a Scottish island became awash in forever chemicals via seafoam and seaspray—raising questions about what that means for the safety of other coastal areas.

The theory of chemtrails originated from misinterpreting a US Air Force paper

The document proposed a future weather modification system to achieve military objectives, but clarified that such a system "does not reflect current military policy, practice, or capability." Past testing of biological and chemical weapons has accelerated conspiracies about streaks of condensation trailing aircraft to be harmful chemical agents.

Stainless steel and cast-iron pans should be used over older nonstick cookware

Although modern nonstick pans avoid forever chemicals like PFOA, they were previously used in the manufacturing of Teflon coatings and have been linked with certain types of cancer, infertility, and other adverse health outcomes. Vintage plastic utensils should also be avoided due to the leeching of contaminants in early formulations of plastic.

The Keep America Beautiful campaign shifted the blame for litter from manufacturers to individuals

This podcast examines how one organization reshaped the American public's relationship with recycling, asking why responsibility for a cleaner environment falls to individuals rather than to the companies that produce waste.

George Carlin's ‘Seven Words’ satirized obscenity laws

Carlin’s famous bit lampooned FCC regulations on obscenity. Ironically, he performed it on TV during his HBO special, “Again!” in 1978.

This Harvard philosophy professor suggests we should rethink our relationship with animals

Christine Korsgaard, a professor of philosophy at Harvard, wrote a book arguing that humans are not more important than other animals and that we should improve our treatment of them. In her view, we have a duty to value the life of our fellow creatures not just for their utility, but for their existence as sentient and conscious beings.

Henry Ford built a plastic car from soybeans in 1941

To pursue his goal of marrying industry with agriculture, among other reasons, the automobile giant oversaw the design and creation of a vehicle with 12 panels made from plastic. At 2,000 pounds, the car was much lighter than all-steel ones, but production stopped during World War II.

The scarecrow isn't an effective tool for farms, but it is a potent symbol in horror

Scarecrows are no longer the best way for farmers to prevent birds from messing with their crops, but the humanlike figures are still found in horror movies. Folklorists say that's because they recall an agrarian past that makes modern viewers uneasy.

Orwell warned readers about how abuse of language can lead to dystopias

In his 1946 essay "Politics and the English Language," Orwell argues that language is the primary tool of political control and is "designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind." The essay warns readers that how they use and consume language will dictate what they permit—or prohibit—in society.

Sunflowers have long been a symbol of nuclear disarmament because they can extract large amounts of radioactive cesium from soil.

How the Supreme Court established biotechnology patent law with an oil-eating microbe

While working at General Electric, microbiologist Ananda Chakrabarty engineered a strain of Pseudomonas that could break down multiple types of hydrocarbons and filed a patent on the bioremediation organism. Despite challenges over whether living things could be patented, the 5-4 decision held that genetically modified organisms could be patented because they were human-made inventions.

How the methods of catching fish for food affects their taste

Commercially caught fish are often killed through suffocation, allowing the causing the fish extreme stress and flooding their bodies with stress hormones and lactic acid. These chemicals cause the fish's flesh to become bitter where it was once rich and quickens the rotting process.

1975: Betty Ford, remarks at the International Women's Year Conference

"Change, by its very nature, is threatening but it is also often productive."

The use of fungi to detoxify land and water—a process known as mycoremediation—has been used to clean up natural resources affected by the 2025 California wildfires.

Bill Nye believes a World War II-level mobilization is needed to end climate change

As part of his science advocacy efforts, Nye has argued that existing technologies, including electric vehicles and renewable energy, can already significantly reduce emissions. However, switching to these technologies requires a more expansive awareness of the problem and a greater sociopolitical willingness by policymakers and the general public.

Sunflowers have long been a symbol of nuclear disarmament because they can extract large amounts of radioactive cesium from soil.

Famed poet TS Eliot rejected the manuscript for George Orwell's political fable 'Animal Farm,' writing that its criticism of authoritarianism was not 'the right point of view.'

During the French Revolution, a botanist's letter asking about "dear Rhus" (poison ivy) was intercepted, leading authorities to suspect he was conspiring with the Russians.

'Silent' fireworks have gained more interest in recent years as a quieter celebratory option.

Mid-century modern graphic designers, known for their bright colors and bold lines in advertising, also found success with children's books.

The story of Dollree Mapp, whose legal challenge over her 1957 conviction for possessing "obscene material" led to a major strengthening of the Fourth Amendment

20,000 letters to the advice columnist 'Dear Abby' provide insight into prevailing sex, religion, and LGBTQ fears, anxieties, and concerns from the 1950s onward.

Jimmy Carter signed a 1978 bill that legalized home brewing, a move credited with kick-starting the craft beer industry.

Before writing 'Walden,' transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau nearly burned down his hometown with a campfire that grew out of control.

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

Georgia O'Keeffe's flower paintings are often assumed to be sexual, though the artist claimed she was simply interested in highlighting the beauty of flowers that most people neglect

After NASA's Voyager 1 captured Earth as a single pixel as it left the solar system in 1990, astronomer Carl Sagan used the image to reflect on humanity's fragility and the responsibility to protect 'the only world we've ever known.'

Brian Wilson wrote the Beach Boys' 'Don't Worry Baby' for the Ronettes, but the legendary girl group rejected it.

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

Despite being favored by 87% of Americans, Congress does not have term limits.

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.

Indefinite cloning of some endangered species may not sustain their longevity because cloning success rates decrease as genetic mutations accumulate.

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

How the most famous Ebola book, The Hot Zone, which sold 3.5 million copies and was translated into 30 languages, got aspects of the disease so wrong.

Chaos theory—informally known as the butterfly effect—is the reason why weather forecasts are presented with probabilities rather than certainties.

Pure water does not conduct electricity because this flow of energy requires the movement of charged particles, and water is a neutral molecule.