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Absinthe through the ages

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American



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A few days ago, the New York Times ran a story about the return of absinthe, the infamous liquor that is said to have caused Van Gogh to hallucinate. Their story referenced an article on the drink from the June 1989 issue of Scientific American. So we dug it up from our archives and are making it available here for your perusal. Cheers!

Kate Wong is an award-winning science writer and senior editor at Scientific American focused on evolution, ecology, anthropology, archaeology, paleontology and animal behavior. She is fascinated by human origins, which she has covered for more than 25 years. Recently she has become obsessed with birds. Her reporting has taken her to caves in France and Croatia that Neandertals once called home, to the shores of Kenya's Lake Turkana in search of the oldest stone tools in the world, to Madagascar on an expedition to unearth ancient mammals and dinosaurs, to the icy waters of Antarctica, where humpback whales feast on krill, and on a "Big Day" race around the state of Connecticut to find as many bird species as possible in 24 hours. Kate is co-author, with Donald Johanson, of Lucy's Legacy: The Quest for Human Origins. She holds a bachelor of science degree in biological anthropology and zoology from the University of Michigan. Follow Wong on X (formerly Twitter) @katewong

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