An encyclopedia of anthropology

Search this citation-heavy database of nutrition and supplement research

Explore a reference site that aggregates and summarizes peer-reviewed studies on hundreds of supplements and dietary interventions. It is ad-free and funded by subscriptions, making it a health resource without a financial stake in what you buy.

View a directory of more than 300 dinosaurs

This resource details each dinosaur's taxonomy, type, diet, and habitat, from Aardonyx to Zuniceratops. More well-researched dinosaurs include information on when they were discovered alongside their size, behaviors, and other noteworthy findings.

Human origins 101

Learn about the over 20 early human species that belong in our family tree and how the natural selection of certain physical and behavioral traits defined what it means to be human.

Trans-Atlantic and intra-American slavery: a visual database

This interactive database provides insight into the trading of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic. This database offers maps, articles, timelapses, videos of 3D slave ship models, and searchable databases on enslavers and the enslaved. According...

An immersive curation of the world's rock art

A living archive of humanity’s ancient art and symbols, our shared history that is embedded as rock art and cave art in the landscape

Learn about the more than 100 known autoimmune diseases

Explore this resource with summaries and related resources for the dozens of autoimmune diseases defined in the medical literature. Many of these disease write-ups also have interviews with a patient with the disorder—offering a personal take about challenges, advice, and lifestyle effects.

Explore a comprehensive encyclopedia of all known bird species and families

The "Birds of the World" collaborative ornithological platform combines millions of bird observation records with extensive information on more than 11,000 bird species, including their appearance, sounds, taxonomy, habitat, movements and migration, diet, breeding, behavior, and evolutionary histories.

Addiction is defined as chronic compulsive drug use despite adverse consequences

This resource from the National Institute on Drug Abuse provides a comprehensive look at addiction as a complex brain disorder. It explores why people initially take addictive substances and how continued use alters the brain’s reward system.

Bad Ancient: a site to fact-check claims about the ancient world

Peruse popular questions about ancient Rome, Egypt, Greece, and more, from whether Greek boxers were ripped or to what extent Alexander the Great conquered the world.

The lack of diversity in DNA databases limits their applications

European ancestry dominates genetic research, hindering the usage of genetic databases for precision medicine for other groups, including African Americans, who face higher health risks due to genetic variants. Many Indigenous communities have also resisted genetic research due to past exploitation. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

Browse and explore dozens of major psychology theories

There are a ton of different psych theories—so here's a breakdown of some of the major ones according to the general psychological focus.

How did archaeology come to be?

Archaeology, also spelled archeology, is the scientific study of the material remains of past human life and activities. So when did it become an official body of science? Britannica answers this question and more in this article on the history of...

The Internet Archive is a nonprofit digital library of the Web

Founded in 1996, the Archive promotes open access and the digital preservation of online information and, as of 2026, contains more than 200 petabytes of content, including over one trillion web pages, 56 million books and texts, 13 million audio recordings, 1.3 million software programs, and other digital content.

Did a Smithsonian anthropologist steal people's brains?

This comic examines "racial brain collection" of Ales Hrdlicka, the Smithsonian's head of physical anthropology during the early 1900s. Hrdlicka was a white supremacist who sought physical evidence for his theories on anatomical differences between...

Psychoactive drugs found in 1,000-year-old bag made of fox noses

Archaeologists in Bolivia have uncovered an ancient bag filled with "amazing goodies" that suggests the owner or owners were well-versed in the properties of psychoactive substances and sourced goods from well-established trade routes. This article details the findings, which shed light on how ancient peoples in the region consumed and obtained psychoactive substances.

Take Yale's free online course, 'The Science of Well-Being'

Considered Yale University's most popular free online course, this 10-module series offers insights into the science of well-being and practical ways to increase happiness and satisfaction. More than 5 million people have enrolled since its 2018 launch.

Anorexia as religion: from the Middle Ages to modern message boards

Humanity's interest in anorexia nervosa can be traced back to the Middle Ages and the rise of "fasting girls." This article explores the history of the eating disorder as a religion. The first recorded anorexics appeared during the 13th century...

Explore a series of interdisciplinary explainers on climate science

From animations on the quantum mechanics of greenhouse gases to a photo essay on how scientists acquire climate data, this collection provides detailed explorations of how different branches of science have contributed to our understanding of climatology.

A database of grape varieties

All wines are defined in part by the type of grapes used, whether a single grape or a blend. This encyclopedic archive of grape varieties and their respective attributes is an easy way to become acquainted with just about any wine grape out there—from Albariño to Zweigelt. It also includes brief introductions to non-wine alcoholic beverage categories like beer and hard seltzer.

Explore what 20,000 letters to an advice columnist tell us about US anxieties and concerns.

This interactive story breaks down common themes—and specific questions—that were posed to Dear Abby, America's longest-running advice column.

Google Search trends reveal truths about society that traditional surveys miss

Studies of human behavior show that survey respondents may lie to present themselves more favorably. By studying anonymous search data, researchers have uncovered hidden racism, mental health struggles, and interest in taboo or stigmatized topics.

Read 'The New Negro,' the influential collection edited by Alain Locke

The 1925 anthology features early works by Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Zora Neale Hurston, Claude McKay, Jean Toomer, WEB DuBois, and more. You can read it in its entirety—for free—through the Internet Archive.

What is psychoanalysis?

This nine-minute video, the first of a four-part series, seeks to answer the questions: what is psychoanalysis, and is it weird? The answer to the latter question is overwhelmingly yes. The answer to the first question is a bit...

The Wiki Game: get to one Wikipedia topic to another as fast as you can

Wikipedia, the free, community-built encyclopedia, uses hyperlinks so users can explore topics within topics. This tool often leads readers to go down endless rabbit holes, from one topic to another, endlessly. Now, you can make a game of it by...

How constitutional AI helps cultivate good human values in Anthropic's AI tools

By incorporating elements from documents such as the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights into a framework against which it can check its outputs, Anthropic hopes the approach will help Claude operate with good human values and behaviors beyond what human-driven training alone can provide.

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.

See how each of the more than two million known species relates to each other—and to common ancestors—in this zoomable tree of life.

This site reaches millions of visitors who are tired of AI chatbots and seeking human connection. Pretend to be an AI chatbot and ask questions, provide answers, and draw for people in real time.

Explore the known asteroids, comets, and spacecraft involved in asteroid studies within our solar system with 'Eyes on Asteroids,' a 3D visualization from NASA.

Explore an interactive map built from more than 100,000 survey responses on where people find joy in their lives

See these 16 pieces of art evoking phobias of snakes, flying, spiders, and more. 

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

Read a deep dive on the 'all-purpose healing' peptide BPC-157.

The first line of 'immortal' human cells, which can divide indefinitely and are used in scientific research, was nonconsensually taken from a Black woman.

Apeirophobia is an overwhelming fear of living forever, perhaps stemming from the brain's inability to conceptualize an infinite life.

A vending machine run with Anthropic's AI went out of business after it was convinced to give away items for free and sell a video game console.

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.

Crows are believed to have intelligence on par with a seven-year-old child and demonstrate complex behaviors, from problem-solving with tools to recognizing human faces.

The US Constitution is widely regarded as the longest-standing written national constitution still in force—see how it has influenced rights worldwide.

In 2018, 26-year-old missionary John Allen Chau was killed by tribesmen after attempting to reach and evangelize on India's isolated North Sentinel Island

Explore the archaeological treasures of Pompeii, the city buried under volcanic ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE.

Explore a list of the 100 best novels of all time, compiled by some of the world's best living writers, including Salman Rushdie, Stephen King, and Jennifer Egan.

Explore what it's like inside a patient isolation unit, used in situations such as treating a patient or suspected patient with Ebola.

Alzheimer's can lead to brain shrinkage, with an average of around 2% of volume reduction per year

While atoms are normally made of protons, neutrons, and electrons, exotic ones have been built with antimatter—alternate versions of normal matter that live for fractions of a second and are about a billion times as rare.

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

Explore chaos in this simulation of two double pendulums, where small differences in the release angles produce wildly different outcomes.

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

'Saturday Night Fever,' the 1977 film that introduced disco to the mainstream, was based on a fabricated magazine story.

The word 'jazz' evolved from 'jasm,' 19th-century American slang for 'energy'