secret history week

It’s not just paper. From the first notes issued by the Continental Congress to the latest star-spangled bills…

Internet cafes started as coffee shops where you could check email. But over the years, people turned them into dens…

It’s been an amazing week of secret histories on Gizmodo, and we wanted to finish up by sharing our own secret…

The Galapagos Islands are best known for their giant tortoises, but they’re also the site of one of the most bizarre…

Like many soul-searching 1990s adolescents, I was obsessed with Nike Air technology. I’d pore over the latest…

The history of inoculation may sound a little dry, but it’s really an epic tale of human trafficking, semi-illicit…

In 1944 and 1945, the Allies were attacking the last supporter of Nazi Germany. Tens of thousands of tons of bombs…

Astronauts work incredibly hard, putting in long hours in unnatural, difficult conditions. But sometimes they get…

What the hell does it mean for a person to be white?

Antoine Lavoisier is deservedly considered one of the great chemists in history. We might not know of his…

Do you remember where you were when you first realized the severity of the drought in the Western US? I would guess…

When NASA hired chemist Barbara Askins to salvage the photos they were getting back from astronauts, they never…

Lasers are the future of warfare. So it might come as a surprise to many Americans that the US military first used a…

The next time you visit a natural history museum, don’t believe everything you see. At least that’s according to…

You’ve heard the official histories of your country, your computers, and your shoes. But do you know what really…

Today, the majority of Australians take pride in being part of a multicultural, multiethnic society. But much like…

When John Glenn blasted off in Friendship 7, he created history as the first American to orbit our planet. But how…