We know that the world isn't going to end on the 21st of December (or at least isn't more likely to end then than any other day), but it's always nice to remember that there's a firm precedent for the world not ending on schedule. It didn't end in 1844, when William Miller and Samuel S. Snow convinced the Millerites to …

You may be familiar with Isaac Newton from such inventions as calculus and the law of universal gravitation. What you may not know is that he was also an avid "chymist," or alchemist. In fact, Newton actually wrote roughly a million words about alchemy and his experiments with it — as Indiana University science…

Robert Hooke discovered the cell, established experimentation as crucial to scientific research, and did pioneering work in optics, gravitation, paleontology, architecture, and more. Yet history dismissed and forgot him... all because he pissed off Isaac Newton, probably the most revered scientist who ever lived.

When Isaac Newton was first developing the mathematical theories that would later form the foundations of Calculus, many of his drawings, equations and calculations found their way into an unassuming notebook (known at the time as a "waste book"), the original cover of which is pictured on the far left of the image up…

Courtesy of Marvel Comics, here's a sneak peek at the next issue of writer Jonathan Hickman and artist Dustin Weaver's gonzo secret society miniseries S.H.I.E.L.D. The fourth issue of this miniseries delves deeper into the history of the Marvel Universe and sees real-life historical figures wielding bad attitudes and…

When it comes to old academic societies, there isn't an organization on Earth that can hold a candle to Britain's Royal Society. Founded all the way back in 1660, The Royal Society has been pumping out peer-reviewed scientific literature since 1665, when the first edition of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal…

Isaac Newton, as well as being a brilliant mind that split the difference between advancing and inventing physics as we know it, was very religious. When he was in his first year at Cambridge, he kept a debtor's ledger of the sins that he'd committed as a child. Read about the most shameful acts and violent past of…