At the very same time during the 1950s that some young women wondered why they should study science when all they wanted to do was get married, and magazines aimed at teen girls and women did their best to simultaneously both dispel and uphold the stereotype of the masculine female scientist, Don Herbert was busy…

Did you ever wonder why young, single women should waste their time in science class when they could be out tracking down eligible men? Listen and learn as Dad and Mom explain to their skeptical daughter Betty how science benefits married women, as well as those waiting for Mr. Right, in this clip from Why Study…

You've got a pile of mangoes and a clean-shaven Future Jack mixing up his breakfast screwdriver: Welcome to Lost, season 4. Despite my whiny complaints and misgivings about the last season, I'm officially completely hooked again. Minor spoilers and recappage ahead.

One of the best Christmas presents I ever received was David Wallechinsky and David Wallace's The People's Almanac. Published in 1975, the Almanac covered all sorts of juicy topics to keep an impressionable 14-year-old happy—famous crimes, oddities, utopias, and (oh, baby!) sex. There was even an entire chapter devoted …

Behold the "Telephone That Registers Calls in One's Absence." It sounds like something from the Onion, but it's an actual invention from the pages of Scientific American in 1919. The brainchild of a nameless "California inventor" (so much for his fifteen minutes of fame), the device was a recording telegraph made to be…

In 1967, designer Diana Dew's light-up mini-dresses and pants pulsed to the music at the hippest discotheques. Still in her early 20s, Dew invented a rechargeable battery pack that powered what Time magazine called "pliable plastic lamps" sewn onto dresses and pants.

1969 was a great year to be seven-going-on-eight: astronauts were getting ready to land on the moon—and for spellbound earthlings, there were Space Food Sticks. As this vintage ad explains, Space Food Sticks were developed "to meet the demands of a long spaceflight" by the nice folks at Pillsbury. (Can you imagine any…

Tomboy Kate morphs into wimpy womanhood in one of Lost's most annoying moments. Yesterday we paid tribute to our favorite moments from the show, but now it's time to tear into the most disappointing, annoying and/or simply wrong moments. Bad omen: the worst of Lost is almost all related to season 3.

With one week to go until the season 4 premiere, here's a short and subjective list of my five favorite moments from Lost. In retrospect, it's heavy on the first two seasons. They're in no particular order, except for the first: Desmond's Day in the Hatch. These first few minutes of season 2, in my book, represent Lost …

Meet Mary Summerfield, Ph.D. In 1956, she was one of what American Girl magazine called "thousands of girls now serving as professional scientists." Dr. Summerfield thought more young women (er, girls) would consider science as a career but were afraid it would render them unfeminine spinsters. That's why the caption on…