Arts & Life
Wendell Pierce On 'Making Groceries' In The Big Easy
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History
This illustration from 1846 shows a starving boy and girl raking the ground for potatoes during the Irish Potato Famine, which began in the 1840s.
How Genomics Solved The Mystery Of Ireland's Great Famine
()Although scientists have known that a funguslike organism caused the potato blight that triggered the Great Famine in Ireland in the 1840s, they didn't know which strain was the culprit. But they do now, thanks to the genes in some 19th century potato samples.
Dolphins Find 19th Century Navy Torpedo In Pacific Ocean
Discovered during a training exercise near San Diego, the torpedo will make its way to a museum.
()The Salt
Giant Renaissance Food People Descend Upon New York()
May 19, 2013 Giuseppe Arcimboldo was a 16th-century artist who liked to play with his food, transforming it into the building blocks of many of his fantastical portraits. Artist Philip Haas has taken those portraits out of museums, reinterpreting them as colossal statues that interact with the natural environment.
Environment
With Rising Seas, America's Birthplace Could Disappear()
May 14, 2013 By the end of the century, ocean levels could rise by 2 or 3 feet. That's enough to flood the colonists' first settlement at Jamestown, Va. And it's putting pressure on archaeologists to get as many artifacts out of the ground as quickly as possible — before it's too late.
Author Interviews
'Guns At Last Light' Illuminates Final Months Of World War II()
May 14, 2013 Historian Rick Atkinson's new book completes his trilogy on the second world war. He tells NPR's Steve Inskeep that the events of the war may be 70 years in the past, but they're still very much a part of American culture.
It's All Politics
Census: Black Voting Rate Topped Rate For Whites In 2012()
May 8, 2013 New details from a Census survey shows just how much more diverse the American electorate is becoming, with political implications still to come.
Fine Art
Family Fights Sale Of Iconic Thomas Cole Painting()
May 6, 2013 While serving as governor of New York, William Seward received a Thomas Cole landscape painting as a gift for his work on the Erie Canal. Since then, its value has exploded and its caretakers are looking to sell. On Tuesday, Seward's great-great-grandson will be in court to try to stop them.
