The roots of American anti-vaccination ideology go way back to 1721, when a smallpox epidemic threatened Boston. Cotton Mather, the Hub’s leading minister, had learned about inoculation — infecting ...

Log-in to bookmark & organize content - it's free! Author Andrew Wehrman provides opening remarks for his lecture on how inoculation became a sought-after medical procedure in the 18th century and ...

Editor’s Note: In a previous article, Theo Warner explored how digital literacy programs can build resilience against harmful content online. One promising component is psychological ...

I remember the first time I read the words of the Frenchman Charles Arthaud: “Inoculation, which will surely surprise you, is known and practiced amongst the Negres in some parts of Africa.” By the ...

Inoculation theory has everything to do with making a belief or attitude resistant to influence, and very little to do with vaccines. So, please, keep your tinfoil hats in the wardrobe. This social ...

Your support goes further this holiday season. When you buy an annual membership or give a one-time contribution, we’ll give a membership to someone who can’t afford access. It’s a simple way for you ...

THE MOST dramatic showdown between humans and smallpox probably took place in Europe in the 18th century. The disease had by then been gathering momentum for a couple of hundred years, and despite the ...

Exactly 300 years ago, in 1721, Benjamin Franklin and his fellow American colonists faced a deadly smallpox outbreak. Their varying responses constitute an eerily prescient object lesson for today’s ...

It was the perfect storm of disease transmission: a tourist destination packed with foreign visitors and unvaccinated local residents during a busy holiday season. I'm not talking about last month at ...