religion
The tonal Native American language differentiates words based on pitch and makes Spanish conjugation look like child’s play.
A single knife is sometimes worth more than a thousand armies.
'Six Persimmons,' an ink painting by the Chinese monk Mu Qi, has long been hailed as the poster child of Zen Buddhism. But is its reputation deserved?
This necropsy represents an early entry in what would become a tradition of performing autopsies to consider an individual’s sanctity.
The clash of academic archaeology and what might be called folk archaeology comes into stark focus at Stonehenge.
Many countries' histories are governed by the familiar demographic story of growth, industrialization, and decline. But not France.
The history of hell doesn't begin with the Old Testament. Instead, hell took shape in the 2nd century from Mediterranean cultural exchange.
Tikal, one of the biggest cities the Maya ever built, was home to a vast and flourishing society.
If someone can make you feel insecure, incomplete, and inadequate, they then can present themselves as the solution you need.
Is immortality a tantalizing possibility or a philosophical paradox?
The toilet “is a portal to a mysterious otherworld.”
If the "self" is not real, then we are slaves to a billiard ball universe, trapped in a nihilistic nightmare in which we cannot change our fate.
The Persian Constitutional Revolution made unlikely allies and enemies of missionaries, ayatollahs, the shah, and his Russian ambassadors. Its legacy shaped modern-day Iran.
The smartest person in the world was Isaac Newton, a true polymath whose brilliance never has been, nor ever will be, surpassed.
Will you die when your body dies?
When science is a source of spirituality in people’s lives, they feel happy and engaged.
If you feel like you're missing out on something bigger, you might be feeling saṃvega.
It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a medieval airship!
The mountain can generate lenticular clouds, which may contribute to its supernatural reputation.
To this day, one cult believes that Lemuria was real, and that its people left us the sacred wisdom to revive their advanced civilization.
Wherever automation rises, religiosity falls.
Be more like Goldilocks.
The Te’omim Cave in the Jerusalem Hills is filled with skulls and oil lamps — objects a new study says may have been used in dark rituals.
There were many similarities, but also some profound differences.
The debate goes back at least 400 years.
“It is healthy and normal to be afraid of death."
No, Gandhi did not single-handedly bring about Indian independence. Pacifism alone usually gets you killed.
People discovered prehistoric fossils long before Charles Darwin published "On the Origin of Species." The remains of these unknown creatures often puzzled their discoverers.
A philosophical debate spanning creation, free will, and a sneaky teapot.