Culture & Religion

Pregnancy can be both a triumph and a terror, with those terrors often coming from having to deal with its social ramifications. Telling your boss and co-workers that you’re having a baby (and will be taking leave) doesn’t have to be stressful or frightening.

Short for “Your Life, Only Better,” Yolobe is a new social networking service that connects ambitious high schoolers to professional opportunities.

In the early days of social media, idealists dreamed of a digital market place for ideas, the kind that might help rejuvenate a democracy too often given over to distractions.

Oslo’s beautiful city hall is one of Norway’s most popular buildings and one of the world’s most beautiful seats of civic government. The large wall decoration on the second floor, […]

It’s not surprising that Albert Einstein was a good student, as the report card he received at the age of 17, posted by History Pics, shows. His best subject? Math.

Different times of the day are more productive than others, but which times those are varies from person to person.

Losang Samten escaped Tibet in 1959, when he was only five years old. After growing up in India, he came to the United States in 1988, and shared the teachings […]

This childhood photo of Kurt Cobain could be an album cover. It has the same spontaneity and sweetness of the naked swimming baby on Nirvana’s Nevermind. Source: History Pics

When levels of prosperity in a given country increase, women are more likely to benefit from improvements to education institutions. Any cognitive differences between men and women are not solely inherited.

For many of us, zoos are a depressing experience featuring tiny, dirty cages, concrete floors, and sad animals. Danish architect Bjarke Ingels and his team at BIG were commissioned by […]

Research has uncovered that creative answers are best found in 30-50 minutes of concentration. Conversely, 30-50 minutes of relaxation can provide that unexpected piece of insight.

Two of America’s core values—democracy and meritocracy—seem increasingly conflicted and the way we talk about them isn’t helping: 1. “-ocracy” means “rule of.” Democracy is rule of the demos, the […]

Once a social taboo, tattoos have ridden a wave of popularity resulting in a variety of new trends, including an incorporation of popular brands and logos in body art.

According to Open Culture, the New York Public Library just made 20,000 hi-res images of old maps available online. And they’re free! Find your new wall art here. 

The late author and professor famously dissected the falsely perceived equivalency between ignorance and knowledge in a 1980 Newsweek piece titled “A Cult of Ignorance.” One wonders what Asimov would say about the current conflict between science and opinion.

According to Historical Pics, this is the original first page–from 1937–of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings

The library of Trinity College. Dublin, Ireland Image via Historical Pics

Every spring, The Tree of 40 Fruit blooms in a myriad of colors, and every summer it bears more than 40 different types of fruit. The tree is not genetically modified. […]

A new “happiness” is needed. The goal many pursue now ignores useful old wisdom and the logic of our biology. A verb capturing the necessary recurring effort would improve on […]

James Cameron was homeless when he wrote Terminator, according to History Pics. Yet he sold the film rights for $1. Why? He took the extremely low salary in exchange for getting to direct the project. Smart bargain. Image via History Pics

People who spend exorbitant amounts of money pampering their dogs do so more to please themselves than their coddled canines. But it is really a bad thing? 

A study which constructed a faux business deal has found that women are more frequently lied to in negotiations than men. Added to that, men are more likely to be given insider information 

Sociologist Carl Stemple argues that upper middle class Americans avoid “excessive displays of strength,” viewing the bodybuilder look as vulgar overcompensation for wounded manhood.

This looks like a still from Federico Fellini‘s classic film Amarcord, inspired by the filmmaker’s childhood in fascist Italy. According to Historical Pics, it’s Benito Mussolini’s Fascist Party headquarters in […]

The Internet is a creative place, and it just became a whole lot more artistic. Over 400,000 high-resolution digital images have gone public domain thanks to The Metropolitan Museum of […]

The hormone bursts that plague teenage boys can be both painful and frustrating. In order to prevent related flares of capricious action, parents should form a strategy to help their teens seek to improve rather than defend themselves.

Why do young concertgoers shout their lungs out like they’re auditioning for a slasher flick? It’s partly because screaming is a customary ritual for such an event. It’s also because screaming is a primal form of sociological expression.

The Hanwa Eagles have introduced a cheering section of automated fans that can be controlled by fans at home. The struggling team hopes these new supporters will improve the game-day atmosphere.

“If it feels good, do it” is no formula for happiness. Happyologist and free-marketeer Arthur Brooks rightly calls it popular but “life ruining advice.” His essay mixes old wisdom with […]

From Stars Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi, America’s second favorite Star Wars film according to this poll by FiveThirtyEight, a family of Ewoks take off their masks […]