The Forgotten History of Women Mapmakers

Women are often overlooked in cartography when, in fact, they’ve contributed to the field just as much as any man has. Uncovering the history of women mapmakers, the Atlantic delves into the past 300 years of North American cartography and the women that introduced new coastlines to the masses. From Mary Ann Roque to the Haussard sisters, discover the forgotten history of female mapmakers.

How Income Inequality Led to the Creation of Monopoly

While Monopoly may be the world’s best-known board game, the story behind its creation has long been shrouded in mystery—until now. A man named Charles Darrow is usually the one credited as the game’s inventor, but as it turns out, a typist named Lizzie Magie originally came up with Monopoly as a way to teach the public about income inequality and its disastrous nature. The …

A Library Filled With the World’s Rarest Pigments

Over 2,500 of the world’s rarest colors are housed inside The Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies at the Harvard Art Museums. Many of them date back to prehistoric times, when pigments obviously weren’t readily available—they needed to be harvested from natural minerals and materials and further mixed to create just the right color. Fast Company recently visited The Straus Center to take a …