history
About 8% of our genome is made of leftover viruses from our ancestors’ infections.
Marcus Tullius Cicero is widely regarded as one of the most gifted orators in human history. His writings can teach us a lot about the lost art of public speaking.
Rushdie was heavily criticized by figures across the political spectrum for being offensive. People tried to “cancel” Rushdie long before that term was invented.
Today’s scary clowns are not a divergence from tradition, but a return to it.
Who doesn’t love a little existential fear every once in a while?
Is history decided by discernible laws or does it unfold based on random, unpredictable occurrences?
Jimena Canales shares the “demons” that shaped computer science.
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There is one House member for every 761,169 people, which isn’t exactly representative.
The value of art does not lie in the artwork itself but is instead determined by curators, collectors, critics, and other participants in the modern-day art market.
With almost every shovel of sand shifted in Egypt, another artifact comes to light.
Because Dylan “samples and digests” songs from the past, he has been accused of plagiarism. But imitatio isn’t the same.
Like his “Mona Lisa,” Leonardo da Vinci’s “Lady with an Ermine” depicts a woman in a way that flouted the conventions of its time.
Forget about Tinkerbell.
Urban legends help personify the anxieties that arise from living in a modern city.
How much can something change and still be the same thing?
Instead of worshipping Yahweh, the devotees were perhaps dedicated to Mars and Jupiter.
You can buy over 400,000 products tagged “witch” on Etsy, from candles to spell bottles to pentagram necklaces.
The world has improved in mind-blowing ways.
What if your best friend was an informant?
Between 30% and 50% of the US population says they believe in ghosts.
We got lucky with our evolutionary history.
All nations have founding myths, but none are quite like Russia’s.
One award was for a medical procedure that incapacitated thousands of people.
This year’s Nobel Peace Prize ceremony sends yet another strong message to Russian president Vladimir Putin.
After 10,000 years of civilization, have we figured out what virtue is?
More than 1,000 years ago, Mesoamerican societies conducted one of history’s most interesting experiments in commodity money.
Venerated astrophysicist Carl Sagan entertained the possibility.