HALLOWEEN may be the scariest of days – but also puts smiles on faces by creating jobs. Spending on the annual scarefest has ...

In August 1665, the Battle of Vågen unfolded in Bergen, Norway, during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. A Dutch merchant fleet, backed by unexpected Danish allies, clashed with a formidable English ...

A new study shows how a medieval text was misread as history, shaping how the Black Death’s spread was understood for ...

Myths about how the Black Death traveled quickly across Asia, ravaging Silk Route communities, date back to a single ...

Mass hysteria? Ergot poisoning? Or just despair? Here’s why what started as one woman’s dance spiraled into one of history’s ...

For the past half century, Egyptologists saw the rapid abandonment of Akhetaten as a sign of plague. Now that theory is being challenged.

In 1518, Strasbourg experienced a terrifying Dancing Plague where hundreds danced uncontrollably for days, some to their ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about biodiversity and the hidden quirks of the natural world.