HeyJaredStories of Science
Reading reality through the eyes of history. Weekly essays by Nuno Castel-Branco, MSc, PhD (as featured in Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Scientific American)
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 7
- Latest publication
- Sep 22, 2026
- Audience
- Checking…
- Earliest in this view
- Jul 14, 2026
Latest issues
My Book’s First (Academic) Review (opens the original)
Read excerpt
The Traveling Anatomist just received its first academic-journal review! It was published in the American Historical Review—one of the top history journals.This news arrived in the middle of a busy stretch on the road. A few days ago, I gave talks to a room of young professionals in DC — followed by thrilling and highly stimulating discussions.And last night I lectured at Johns Hopkins University, in the same halls where I once sat as a graduate student. It was wonderful to stand on the other si
Stories of Science on the Road (opens the original)
Read excerpt
Next week, Stories of Science is going on the road.I’m flying to the United States for three talks in three days, at Johns Hopkins, Seton Hall, and UNC Chapel Hill. The subjects are different, but they all circle around questions that will be familiar to readers of this newsletter: How did the ideas and practices we now call “modern science” take shape? What can individual lives and moments of intellectual transformation tell us about that process? And how did institutions, books, censorship, an
Biomechanics is older than you think (opens the original)
Read excerpt
News: Since I began this newsletter in January 2026, I have loved every single minute writing, researching for, and receiving comments on it. (more newsletter news below)In the 1610s, Galileo Galilei and William Harvey independently decided to work on the physics of animal motion—a field today known as biomechanics.Biomechanics is one the backbones of modern robotics—an area that has been exploding in the age of AI, as businesses plan to insert LLMs inside the “brains” of humanoid robots.<a clas
The saint behind the theory of evolution (opens the original)
Read excerpt
In two weeks, I’ll teach a course on the history of anatomy at the University of Lisbon's School of Medicine. In Portuguese. All welcome. More info below.Yesterday, August 24, was a special anniversary in the history of evolution.And it reminded me of the Catholic saint behind the theory of evolution.August 24, 1831, was the date when Charles Darwin received an invitation letter to join the Beagle on a maritime expedition that changed his life—and the history of science—forever. The Beagle voyag
Modern AI vs. Early Modern Machines (opens the original)
Read excerpt
This September, I’ll teach a course on the history of anatomy at the School of Medicine of the University of Lisbon. In Portuguese. All welcome. More info below.Is AI really intelligent? This question came to me on a recent family trip to the city of Burgos. Its famous Cathedral hides a fascinating gadget from the 16th-century whose purpose was not that different from modern AI machines: to do things for us. <a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$
Publishing over time
Last 90 days. Choose a month to open its work.
Recurring subjects
Named in the text we hold. One piece can cover several.
Audience
No verified audience measurement yet.
About this data
Counts cover the work we have indexed. Tone needs enough text and a confident classification. Excerpts and episode notes are not full articles or transcripts.
Identity or attribution wrong? Suggest a correction.