3D-printed model of a 500-year-old prosthetic hand hints at life of a Renaissance amputee

When historians and engineers work together, they can bring a version of the past back to life.

Peden Jones, Graduate Student in Mechanical Engineering, Auburn University • conversation
June 24, 2025 ~12 min

Trans people affirmed their gender without medical help in medieval Europe − history shows how identity transcends medicine and law

Surgery was rare and risky in the medieval period. Though medical options were limited, trans people were able to take transitioning into their own hands.

Sarah Barringer, Ph.D. Candidate in English, University of Iowa • conversation
Feb. 18, 2025 ~10 min


Modern surgery began with saws and iron hands – how amputation transformed the body in the Renaissance

Gunpowder warfare kicked off a new era of invasive surgery and prosthetic technology in Western medicine.

Heidi Hausse, Assistant Professor of History, Auburn University • conversation
June 17, 2024 ~12 min

How medieval chroniclers interpreted solar eclipses and other celestial events

Medieval scholars connected celestial events to changes that happened on the ground, such as the overthrow of the king.

Brian Tanner, Emeritus Professor of Physics at Durham University, Durham University • conversation
April 4, 2024 ~7 min

Hispanic health disparities in the US trace back to the Spanish Inquisition

Early modern societies in Latin America and Spain saw a convergence of traditional medical knowledge and the professionalization of medicine. The resulting differences in access to care endure today.

Margaret Boyle, Associate Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures, Director of Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies Program, Bowdoin College • conversation
March 5, 2024 ~10 min

Modern medicine has its scientific roots in the Middle Ages − how the logic of vulture brain remedies and bloodletting lives on today

Your doctor’s MD emerged from the Dark Ages, where practicing rational “human medicine” was seen as an expression of faith and maintaining one’s health a religious duty.

Meg Leja, Associate Professor of History, Binghamton University, State University of New York • conversation
Nov. 2, 2023 ~10 min

Manuscripts and art support archaeological evidence that syphilis was in Europe long before explorers could have brought it home from the Americas

The idea that Europeans brought new diseases to the Americas and returned home with others has been widely accepted. But evidence is mounting that for syphilis this scenario is wrong.

Marylynn Salmon, Research Associate in History, Smith College • conversation
July 13, 2022 ~10 min

Rewilding: lessons from the medieval Baltic crusades

The Baltic crusades had a long term impact on the local environment – 700 years later, the details of this are clear.

Rowena Banerjea, Postdoctoral Research Assistant, University of Reading • conversation
May 11, 2020 ~8 min


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