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Science & Technology

Can Cows Help Mitigate Climate Change? Yes, They Can!

Livestock emit greenhouse gases. They also can sequester carbon and boost biodiversity.

The Digital Voyage

A man on a laptop

Making Men Online

How the internet has both reinforced and tweaked traditional gender pathologies, especially for boys and men.

Suggested Readings

A spoonful of cookie dough

“Silent Night,” Cookie Dough, and Alpha-Gal Allergies

Well-researched stories from America Magazine, Mosaic, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.

Cabinet of Curiosities

Image from Livre des profits ruraux (late 15th century France)

The Landlord Asks for a Christmas Rose

Bizarre customs of landholding—from demands for flowers to ritualized flatulence—reflect the philosophy that developed under the feudal system.

Roundup

Winter Holidays

Celebrate with some seasonal scholarship from JSTOR Daily for the winter holidays.

Most Recent

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Arts & Culture

Our Best Stories of 2018

JSTOR Daily published a whopping 752 stories in 2018—that’s a lot for our small staff. Here are the ...
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Health

Breast Milk as Medicine

Human breast milk has been recommended as a cure-all since the 17th century.
Two young people reading together.
Education

Is Fan Fiction a Helpful Literacy Tool?

Some teachers are adapting to the internet age by trying to understand the "new literacies" of today's students.
Science & Technology

The Mixed Environmental Legacy of Missionaries

The recent murder of Christian missionary John Chau has drawn attention to the effects outsiders have on native tribes and ecology.

More Stories

Trending

The Sharing Economy Was Dead on Arrival
Business & Economics

The Sharing Economy Was Dead on Arrival

Sharing economy firms like Lyft and Airbnb promised community, but the ideas they promoted as overturning the status quo are the status quo.
Mr. Knightley and Emma Woodhouse, from Jane Austen's Emma
Lingua Obscura

Jane Austen’s Subtly Subversive Linguistics

Why are Jane Austen books still so beloved? A linguist argues it has more to do with Austen's masterful use of language than with plot.
Declaration of Independence
Politics & Government

Who Wrote the Declaration of Independence?

The Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. Thomas Jefferson was not then credited with its authorship.

Long Reads

The Sharing Economy Was Dead on Arrival
Business & Economics

The Sharing Economy Was Dead on Arrival

Sharing economy firms like Lyft and Airbnb promised community, but the ideas they promoted as overturning the status quo are the status quo.
Georgie Hyde-Lees
Arts & Culture

W. B. Yeats’ Live-in “Spirit Medium”

In the Victorian era, a different kind of ghostwriting became popular—largely because it allowed men to take all the credit.
Science & Technology

DNA Forensics Can End Ivory Trafficking. Will Countries Play Along?

Scientists pinpoint poaching hotspots, but authorities aren’t always eager to join the fight.
A Canadian flag with a pot leaf at its center
Politics & Government

How Big Will Canada’s Legal Cannabis Market Be?

With recreational marijuana use now legal across Canada, companies are jockeying for market share while bureaucracies struggle to make estimates.

Editors' Picks

Politics & History

How Pleasure Lulls Us into Accepting Surveillance

The domestication of surveillance technology has caused big legal and ethical implications for security on both a personal and a social scale.
Education & Society

Why You Love the Smell of Old Books

Scent carries significant psychological meaning. A recent paper proposed that scent be included in a proposed intangible heritage list recognized by UNESCO.
Education & Society

What Santa Claus Looks Like

Where does the figure of Santa Claus come from? Turns out the answer is not "the North Pole." And he's not just about Christianity, either.
Politics & History

Identity Politics and Popular Movements

Issues tied to gender have often been part of broad-based popular movements, like the Zetetic movement in early nineteenth-century England.
Science & Technology

England’s Forgotten Favorite Drink

Thanks to botanical artists, 19th century paintings of perry pears are helping to bring England's forgotten bubbly back to our glasses.

Arts & Culture

duck billed platypus

Our Best Stories of 2018

JSTOR Daily published a whopping 752 stories in 2018—that’s a lot for our small staff. Here are the ...
Cyclorama in South End Boston, 1964.

Cycloramas: The Virtual Reality of the 19th Century

Immersive displays brought 19th century spectators to far-off places and distant battles. The way they portrayed history, however, was often inaccurate.
Jarena Lee

Jarena Lee, The First Woman African American Autobiographer

Jarena Lee was the first female preacher in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1836, she published her autobiography.

Columns

Mr. Knightley and Emma Woodhouse, from Jane Austen's Emma

Jane Austen’s Subtly Subversive Linguistics

Why are Jane Austen books still so beloved? A linguist argues it has more to do with Austen's masterful use of language than with plot.
The Knightscope K5 Security Robot

Do Security Robots Signal the Death of Public Space?

A security robot targets the homeless, raising questions about whether private companies can expand their security detail to public spaces like sidewalks.
A computer screen reflected in glasses

To Cope with Digital Distraction, Embrace Digital Neurodiversity

The internet is changing our brains. Our columnist suggests that maybe this isn't such a bad thing.

More pervasive than these explicitly illegal or unethical activities are the changes internet services are making to society’s norms of socializing, recreation, and of privacy itself.

How Pleasure Lulls Us into Accepting Surveillance

Politics & Government

A Canadian flag with a pot leaf at its center

How Big Will Canada’s Legal Cannabis Market Be?

With recreational marijuana use now legal across Canada, companies are jockeying for market share while bureaucracies struggle to make estimates.
The dedication ceremony of the Statue of Unity in Gujarat, India.

The New Meaning of Monuments

Huge monuments to national pride are regaining popularity. One scholar suggests this might also indicate a larger cultural shift.
Nixon and Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai toast during Nixon's 1972 visit to China

How Nixon Paved the Way for Trump

Richard Nixon's voters had a lot in common with Trump's, especially in their idealization of the self-sufficient, independent American businessperson.

Economics

The Sharing Economy Was Dead on Arrival

The Sharing Economy Was Dead on Arrival

Sharing economy firms like Lyft and Airbnb promised community, but the ideas they promoted as overturning the status quo are the status quo.
Nosferatu

Marxferatu: Teaching Marx with Vampires

For a younger generation trying to understand Marxism, the best way in may be: vampirism.

Can Universal Basic Income Achieve Economic Security?

A wealthy country like the United States needs a solution for improving the supply and fairness of work overall. Is universal basic income the way to go?

Education

Two young people reading together.

Is Fan Fiction a Helpful Literacy Tool?

Some teachers are adapting to the internet age by trying to understand the "new literacies" of today's students.
A classroom of bored children

Why School Is Boring

The average student is bored about 1/3 of the time. But that might have more to do with the kids' temperaments than with school itself.
Photo by _HealthyMond . on Unsplash

Autism Education, “Silent Sam,” and Regulating TV

New books and scholarship from UNC Press, The University of Texas Press, and Oxford University Press.