This Month in the Archives

May 17, 2021

This Month in the Archives

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I hope you’re enjoying the springtime and the beginning of the end of the worst of the pandemic. We’ll be learning about the physical and mental toll of COVID for years, but for now we’re looking back into the archives to see how our understanding of mental illness evolved. Happy spring migration for those who celebrate! Below are some of our classic pieces on bird behavior and intelligence. And now that it’s strawberry, asparagus, and fresh greens season, we also share some fun pieces on food.

Wishing you good health and lovely weather,
Laura Helmuth, Editor in Chief

Mental Health Awareness Month

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, a reminder of the long and ongoing effort to screen, recognize and intervene to reduce the burden of mental illness.

October 1936:

The concept of sanity and insanity was still a new one in 1936. This article attempts to describe the difference between them.

September 1973:

A look at how psychiatry and community treatment can help the mentally ill.

August 1974:

“Alienation”—kids from their parents—in the U.S. is greater than it ever has been.

Flights of Fact: Birds

No bird-brains here: a Clark’s nutcracker has a good memory for where food was stashed. (March 1983)

March 1895:

An overly anthropomorphizing article talks about bird traits that are “akin to those of human beings.”

October 1978:

The mass migration of songbirds and small shorebirds can be tracked with the help of radar.

March 1983:

Birds, it turns out, have a very good memory for some things, such as where they stashed their food.

Access 176 Years of Scientific Knowledge

Food Glorious Food

Harvest festival: a monument made of vegetables. (October 1891

October 1891:

Harvest time is a cause of celebration—here’s a traditional German harvest festival transplanted to America by its celebrants.

July 1966:

A celebration of cheap and efficient poultry production. With hindsight we can see the problems with animal rights and weaknesses in the supply chain.

September 2013:

We can fight back against invasive species if we eat them. We even printed recipes.

Current Issue: May 2021