The Best of JSTOR Daily

Now an icon of modernism and avant-garde design, the Eiffel Tower was once seen by Parisian writers and artists as a blight on the cityscape.

An unconventional architect who started her career as an outsider, Hadid became a leading figure in architecture and design in the twenty-first century.

Sewage is a vital part of a circular economy—and we have the tech to make good use of it. Why don’t we?

Time behind bars can increase the likelihood that someone will re-offend, research finds. In many cases, programs that rehabilitate, rather than punish, may be a better solution.

Aztec and Inca societies used a huge number of aphrodisiacs, from peanuts to hallucinogenic mushrooms to insect larvae.

We all ponder them when standing in the cereal aisle of the grocery store, but why do we even have nutrition labels on our foods?

The pursuit of happiness is often considered an ideal, but it may be possible to have too much—or the wrong kind—of a good thing.

Much in the same way we hail cabs in cities today, a medieval Londoner could hail a torch-bearer (a link-boy) to light their way home from a night on the town.

From 1857 to 1889, he could be found walking a 365-mile loop in western Connecticut and eastern New York. Everybody recognized him, but no one knew his name.

Scholars once doubted that pre-literate peoples could ever have composed and recited poems as long as the Odyssey. Milman Parry changed that.

The late poet Charles Simic was a chess prodigy who used the queen and her court to conjure a hellscape that invoked a childhood in war-time Belgrade.

The unlikely, true story of the Westinghouse “We Can Do It” work-incentive poster that became an international emblem of women’s empowerment.

Is birdsong music, speech, or something else altogether? The question has raged for millennia, drawing in everyone from St. Augustine to Virginia Woolf.

Gender roles in Edo Japan recognized an in-between position for young men, called Wakashu, that was erased as Japan westernized.

Our newest culinary trend is also our oldest.

Video games as interactive storytelling? Maybe not at first glance, but as Eric Hayot explains, the interplay between game and narrative is real.

If you’ve looked for a job recently, you’ve probably encountered the personality test. You may also have wondered if it was backed by scientific research.