Could ancient humans really have built the pyramids without extraterrestrial help? Or do such questions reveal more about modern anxieties than the past itself?

Debunking alien claims matters, but so does telling richer, more compelling stories about how humans shaped their own past.

As a researcher, I still remember the discomfort I felt every time I had to sacrifice laboratory animals for an experiment. For decades, animals like mice, rats and pigs have been essential tools in ...