secret history week

An Illustrated History of American Money Design

It’s not just paper. From the first notes issued by the Continental Congress to the latest star-spangled bills released by the Federal Reserve, the history of money in America is laced with rebellion, propaganda, and—of course—lots and lots of wealth. It’s awkwardly beautiful. The history of paper currency, specifically, serves as a curious lens through…

Tech News Adam Clark Estes Apr 20

The Weird, Sketchy History of Internet Cafes

Internet cafes started as coffee shops where you could check email. But over the years, people turned them into dens for sharing pirated music, hotspots for video game addiction, and even temporary housing. How Internet Cafes Were Born In the February 17, 1993 edition of the Washington Post, writer John Boudreau filed a story from…

Tech News Bryan Lufkin Nov 20

Gizmodo Staffers Confess Their Family Secrets for Secret History Week

It’s been an amazing week of secret histories on Gizmodo, and we wanted to finish up by sharing our own secret histories. Apparently, the family histories of Gizmodo staffers are full of criminal acts, shenanigans, and hanky panky. So it’s confession time … Annalee Newitz: My great-grandfather was an arsonist. He came over from Central…

Tech News Annalee Newitz Nov 20

The Gruesome History of the Galapagos Islands’ Nietzsche-Fueled Homesteader Death Showdown

The Galapagos Islands are best known for their giant tortoises, but they’re also the site of one of the most bizarre homesteading misadventures ever, complete with proto-hippies, a polyamorous baroness, potentially poisoned boiled chicken, births in pirate caves, and unsolved deaths that look a lot like murder. Floreana, a small island in the Galapagos archipelago,…

Tech News Kate Knibbs Nov 20

The Absurd History of Nike Air Technology

Like many soul-searching 1990s adolescents, I was obsessed with Nike Air technology. I’d pore over the latest innovations, from visible forefoot air to tuned air to other types of air. I’d even buy used sneakers at the flea market and tear them apart to inspect the air. As my young brain developed and my understanding…

Tech News Adam Clark Estes Nov 19

Princesses, Slaves, and Explosives: The Scandalous Origin of Vaccines

The history of inoculation may sound a little dry, but it’s really an epic tale of human trafficking, semi-illicit experimentation, and high explosives. It’s a globe-hopping story that stars harem girls, noblewomen, prisoners, princesses, slaves, and even a witch hunter. In the Shadow of Smallpox Smallpox has troubled humanity for thousands of years. Wherever we’ve…

Tech News Kiona Smith-Strickland Nov 18

The Caves that Held a Secret Hungarian Aircraft Factory During World War II

In 1944 and 1945, the Allies were attacking the last supporter of Nazi Germany. Tens of thousands of tons of bombs were dropped on Hungarian ground targets, mostly by the Consolidated B-24 Liberator and Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers of the 15th Air Force. By the end of the World War II, the rain of…

Tech News Attila Nagy Nov 18

What Drives an Astronaut to Strike?

Astronauts work incredibly hard, putting in long hours in unnatural, difficult conditions. But sometimes they get pushed too hard, and reach a breaking point. This is the story of Skylab 4, the astronaut crew that kicked off the holidays with a mutiny. November 16, 1973: A time exposure photograph transforms a mundane pre-launch task into…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Nov 18

The Secret History of Whiteness

What the hell does it mean for a person to be white? Historically, it’s a question that has been difficult to answer. But it’s also a question that has defined where a person is allowed to live, eat, and work. Race is a social construct, but when it comes to countries like the United States…

Tech News Matt Novak Nov 18

Badass Historical Chemists: The Woman Behind Antoine Lavoisier

Antoine Lavoisier is deservedly considered one of the great chemists in history. We might not know of his experiments if it weren’t for his wife. She became a remarkable, if unconventional, chemist herself and had one of the weirder lives in history. When Marie-Anne Pierrette Paulze was only 13 years old, she found herself in…

Tech News Esther Inglis-Arkell Nov 17

The Reservoir That Made the World Pay Attention to California’s Drought

Do you remember where you were when you first realized the severity of the drought in the Western US? I would guess that you weren’t staring at a cloudless sky or a dry faucet. You were probably looking at a photo of Folsom Lake. Although drought conditions were technically declared after the low-precipitation winter of…

Climate Change Alissa Walker Nov 17

This Chemist Discovered How to Salvage Useless Photos with a Dash of Radioactivity

When NASA hired chemist Barbara Askins to salvage the photos they were getting back from astronauts, they never expected she’d revolutionize how to restore details to underexposed photographs. In 1975, NASA hired Barbara S. Askins to work at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. She was tasked with researching how the space agency used…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Nov 17

The US Military Used Lasers to Shoot Down a Drone in 1973

Lasers are the future of warfare. So it might come as a surprise to many Americans that the US military first used a laser to shoot a drone out of the sky as early as 1973. The laser program was part of Project Delta, an ARPA (now DARPA) initiative to weaponize lasers. In fact, there…

Tech News Matt Novak Nov 17

Half the World’s Natural History Specimens Might Have the Wrong Name

The next time you visit a natural history museum, don’t believe everything you see. At least that’s according to Oxford University researchers, whose new study suggests that half of the specimens held in their collections may have the wrong name. Often, when a sample arrives at a natural museum—or its exclusively botanical brethren known as…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe Nov 16

It’s Secret History Week on Gizmodo and io9

You’ve heard the official histories of your country, your computers, and your shoes. But do you know what really happened? Join us for a week of secret histories at io9 and Gizmodo, where we reveal the truth behind the half-lies you’ve been told. Inspired in part by Matt Novak’s site Paleofuture, which has long chronicled…

Tech News Annalee Newitz Nov 16

Australia’s Secret History as a White Utopia

Today, the majority of Australians take pride in being part of a multicultural, multiethnic society. But much like the United States, Australia has a brutally racist history. Immigration to Australia was restricted almost exclusively to whites from the country’s founding in 1901 until the mid-1970s. The legislation was unofficially but universally known as The White…

Tech News Matt Novak Nov 16

How did the First Crewed Orbital American Spaceflight get its Name?

When John Glenn blasted off in Friendship 7, he created history as the first American to orbit our planet. But how did his historic craft earn such an unusual name when the previous two names were decidedly more patriotic in nature? John Glenn became the first American astronaut to orbit the planet on February 20,…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Nov 16

secret history week

An Illustrated History of American Money Design

The Weird, Sketchy History of Internet Cafes

Gizmodo Staffers Confess Their Family Secrets for Secret History Week

The Gruesome History of the Galapagos Islands’ Nietzsche-Fueled Homesteader Death Showdown

The Absurd History of Nike Air Technology

Princesses, Slaves, and Explosives: The Scandalous Origin of Vaccines

The Caves that Held a Secret Hungarian Aircraft Factory During World War II

What Drives an Astronaut to Strike?

The Secret History of Whiteness

Badass Historical Chemists: The Woman Behind Antoine Lavoisier

The Reservoir That Made the World Pay Attention to California’s Drought

This Chemist Discovered How to Salvage Useless Photos with a Dash of Radioactivity

The US Military Used Lasers to Shoot Down a Drone in 1973

Half the World’s Natural History Specimens Might Have the Wrong Name

It’s Secret History Week on Gizmodo and io9

Australia’s Secret History as a White Utopia

How did the First Crewed Orbital American Spaceflight get its Name?

Picture Perfect: Artemis 2 Returns Home After a Stellar 10 Days in Space

Artemis 2 Day 10: Follow the Mission With Our Live Updates 🔴

It Sure Looks Like This Is the End for the Current Era of ‘Star Trek’

Before ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Blew Up, Disney Scrapped a Pixar Movie With a Similar Vibe

‘Doomsday’ Asteroids Could Have Kickstarted Life on Our Planet

LEVOIT Air Purifier Now at All-Time Low in a Limited Allergy Season Deal, Filtering Out 99.97% of Dust, Pollen, and Dander for Less

What on Earth Is Happening With ‘Doctor Who’?

France to Ditch Microsoft Windows as Europe’s War on American Tech Rages On

Asus Zenbook A16 Review: Start Considering Snapdragon on PC, for Real

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Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

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DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

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