Cosmetic surgery during the Edwardian era

With no textbooks or antibiotics, this WWI surgeon pioneered facial reconstruction

New Zealand surgeon Dr. Harold Gillies made extraordinary advances in the field of reconstructive surgery during World War I and after. This 36-minute NPR podcast interviews historian Lindsey Fitzharris, author of Gillie's biography, The Facemaker, charting how the good doctor reconstructed the faces of numerous soldiers in an age before antibiotics and plastic surgery as we know it today.

Surgery before the dawn of anesthesia

The arc toward anesthetics was painfully slow, with early pain mitigation offerings ranging from analgesics—drugs that dim pain but don't block it—and numbing surgical sites with cold water to gassing patients with carbon dioxide or bashing or bleeding them unconscious. Such treatments and the torturous surgery they preceded led many to avoid even life-saving procedures, and those who survived often kept silent about the trauma.

What did people do before eyeglasses were invented?

An estimated two-thirds of the world's adults use a form of prescription glasses or contacts, proof spectacles were a godsend when they were invented in 1286 CE. But what did people do before that? Different tools were used for distinct vision problems, but some would use magnifying lenses, clear emeralds, and more. Watch this video for a historical explanation.

Elizabeth I removed her eyebrows to draw attention to her chest

The queen thought that this kind of grooming (which sometimes even included shaving some of her forehead) would cause viewers to find her face blank and, as a result, look south to her breasts.

Some argue that Queen Victoria's wedding started the ripple effect that led to the modern-day wedding-industrial complex

This Vogue article takes you inside the details of Queen Victoria's nuptials, from the dress to the bridesmaids drama. Learn all about the wedding that changed the wedding industry forever.

British beard history, 101

The beard has gone in and out of fashion for centuries in Britain. It was hated in the 18th century but became a must in the 19th. This quick list rehashes 15 fascinating tidbits about the beard, including possible useful functions for them (a beard is equivalent to an SPF 21 sunscreen) and how barbers were often also surgeons.

The history of skull modification

The ancient Maya people sometimes modified their skulls to appear more conical. Body modification has been a human pastime for literal ages, from piercings to bindings and everything in between. Modifying one's skull shape may have been a way to symbolize status, beauty, belonging, or belief. The health impacts of such practices are still debated. This article explores the history and health impacts of skull modification, also known as artificial cranial deformation.

Early 20th-century ID cards protected trans people in Germany using hormone therapy

A small number of passes were granted by the German police—with clinician support—between 1909 and 1933 that nominally allowed them to dress in ways that matched their gender identity, use experimental hormone therapies, and even receive early sex reassignment surgeries. At the time, individuals could be charged with "public nuisance" without the pass.

Modern bodybuilding evolved in the 19th century

The origins of modern progressive resistance exercise are traced to ancient Greece, where a repeat Olympic victor carried a calf every day until it grew into a full-sized ox. This 56-minute comedy and history podcast journeys through the rise of modern bodybuilding, which took off during the 19th century.

Jane Austen's novels are set in late Georgian, Regency-era England

Historians call the period from 1811 to 1820 England's Regency era, named after George Augustus Frederick, who was prince regent from 1811 (and would later become King George IV). While Austen is often considered a romance novelist, some scholars argue her novels also raise questions about societal norms around class and gender.

How dentistry evolved from carnival sideshow to respected medicine

The field, which has remained siloed from other medical care, also has a separate insurance system. This podcast walks through how and why dental insurance often remains capped at $1,500 primarily to cover cleanings, and it wouldn't cover catastrophes—unlike many other medical or housing insurance models.

For centuries, European aristocrats made travel a rite of passage

Starting in the 16th century, young English aristocrats mounted “Grand Tours” of Europe. Accompanying tutors provided lessons in the continent’s architecture, art, history, and literature. A Grand Tour wasn’t just for classical education, though; it was also an opportunity for young men to indulge in vices away from their parents.

A 1908 toy visualizes how the sun never set on the British Empire

Researchers uncovered an early-1900s children’s toy that romanticized the British Empire: a rotating world map showing where the sun shone on Britain’s far-flung territories. The interactive device also served as an advertisement for "The Children’s Encyclopedia."

A 1912 congressional bill attempted to prohibit fake photos in the US

In the 1800s, photographs were held up as indisputable resources of truth. But the photography industry devised ways to alter photos, resulting in the rise of fraudulent photos—from shots with celebrities to the turn-of-the-century version of fake nudes—prompting government intervention.

Hong Kong: British colony turned Chinese police state

This 15-minute video explores how Hong Kong has changed since China reclaimed the territory from Britain in 1997. Hong Kong became a British colony after the First Opium War, a conflict arising from Britain's attempt to equalize trade with China through smuggled opium. Democratic rights assumed by Hong Kong residents, such as the right to protest, have been in peril since the 1997 shift, according to this video.

England changed to an organ donation opt-out system in May 2020

A law that went into effect in May 2020 in England changed the country's organ donation regulations, reflecting public support for organ donation. Now, adults are typically presumed to have agreed to donate their own organs upon death unless they declare they're refusing to donate organs (or their family opts them out).

Plastic's history began with an inventor seeking a $10,000 prize offer

In 1869, the first synthetic polymer—celluloid—was created as a substitute for ivory in billiard balls. It became the historical catalyst for the eventual manufacturing of plastics everywhere as an alternative to the depletion of other natural resources, including tortoiseshell and horns.

Real surgical footage reveals what arthritis looks like up close

Arthritis is a painful condition of human joints that often results from the loss or breakdown of the soft cartilage padding that naturally exists between bones. This video shows footage from an actual knee surgery that beautifully demonstrates the difference between normal cartilage and the degenerative cartilage seen in osteoarthritis.

Explore the British Museum's Pompeii and Herculaneum collection

This video tour utilizes the British Museum’s collection—featuring frescoes, tools, cookware, jewelry, and even carbonized food—to reconstruct daily life in Pompeii and Herculaneum, offering an expert view of how people lived before the eruption transformed both cities.

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.

Dove’s ‘Real Beauty’ campaign sparked conversations about beauty standards in media

For the 20-year anniversary of the campaign in 2024, Dove conducted a brand-commissioned study to gauge how perceptions of beauty standards have shifted since its launch. While 81% of US women thought “the media and advertising set an unrealistic standard of beauty that most women can’t ever achieve” in 2004, the share had shrunk to 69% in 2024. Watch the ad here.

Follow an IVF procedure from lab to transplant

What happens once eggs are harvested from an ovary? How does an embryo form within a petri dish? This detailed video offers a glimpse of the transformations eggs experience as women age, and how sperm are injected into eggs in some forms of IVF treatment.

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

Christmas was briefly banned in 17th-century England

In the 1640s, Puritans outlawed Christmas, deeming it wasteful and unbiblical. For nearly two decades, celebrations were suppressed and violators fined, though many ignored the ban. The law was repealed in 1660.

Richard Cadbury invented the heart-shaped chocolate box in 1868

Richard's father, John Cadbury, founded the Cadbury Brothers chocolate company (now known simply as Cadbury) in 1824. Richard recognized the popularity of ornamental designs (especially for Valentine's Day gifts) and designed the heart-shaped box for the company's chocolates, which became a staple of the holiday.

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.

What was the typical dinner like for US soldiers during WWII?

This odd little nearly 20-minute video details the very excited narrator's unpacking of a 1943 package of K rations. Such meals would have been consumed by American soldiers during World War II. A fascinating look at what soldiers had to depend on for nourishment, made slightly harder to watch by showing the narrator eating 80-year-old biscuits and more.

Explore the brands owned by Estée Lauder Companies

While Estée Lauder remains the flagship brand and namesake of the cosmetic conglomerate, the company owns more than 20 premier brands. Some of the brands—like Clinique and Origin—were created in-house, but others—like Tom Ford and Jo Malone—are a result of the company's acquisition strategy, which often targets companies with high-end retail products.

Walt Disney's early film 'Alice's Wonderland' was a groundbreaking innovation in the silent film era

Sears sold DIY house kits starting at $600 in its famous catalog from 1908 through the 1940s, resulting in roughly 10,000 'Sears and Roebuck houses' being built.

See images of medical cases of firework injuries shared on this 'Instagram for doctors.' (Warning: Graphic content)

About 2,000 US babies are born annually without some portion of their limbs, potentially leading to a lifetime of pricey prosthetics.

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.

Visualize the path of every solar eclipse from 1900 to 2099 and see what each looks like when observed from different locations on Earth.

The hormonal disorder PCOS was renamed PMOS in 2026, a move designed to improve care and research by shifting the focus to the hormonal causes of this condition that affects 1 in 8 women.

The Mona Lisa's celebrity status and repeated restorations have obscured what made the painting so revolutionary for its time

Long before Major League Baseball began allowing instant replay for balls and strikes, an umpire reluctantly used the technology to determine whether a hit was a home run, a move that inadvertently ushered in a new era for the sport.

Objects can be 3D printed with light by projecting 2D computerized tomography (CT) scans onto rotating cylinders of resin, which solidify upon exposure.

For centuries, it was common to sleep in two shifts: a few hours at the beginning of the night, and a longer period beginning around midnight

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

Before the current East Wing ballroom project, only two White House renovations in the past 100 years cost more than $10M.

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.

Double world record holder Hunter Ewen helped conquer his fear of balloons, called globophobia, by training to win Guinness World Record titles for balloon inflation.

Explore the history, structure, and species of Australia's Great Barrier Reef with this interactive journey narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

The term 'algorithm' originated from the Latinized name of al-Khwārizmī, a 9th-century mathematician whose works introduced Arabic numerals and the decimal-based numeral system to Europe and whose treatise 'Al-Jabr' gave algebra its name.

To reduce wrinkles in clothing, research recommends gentle wash cycles with more water and tumble drying with smaller loads and longer times.

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'

Abraham Lincoln was almost assassinated weeks before his inauguration as he traveled from Illinois to DC through Baltimore in 1861; it took two independent claims for Lincoln to be convinced the threat was real

The first steps to rebuilding your credit score include getting to know exactly what's on your credit report and figuring out how far you are from the '700 club,' or 'good score' range.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is the largest ground war in Europe since World War II in terms of casualties, forces mobilized, and displacement of civilians.