world cultures
This chart shows when each new sport joined the Olympic Games
Our chart shows new additions since 1984 that have stuck around.
Why the U.S. and Belgium are culture buddies
The Inglehart-Welzel World Cultural map replaces geographic accuracy with closeness in terms of values.
‘Mad honey’: The rare hallucinogen from the mountains of Nepal
Of the world's 300 honey varieties, none is stranger and more dangerous than mad honey.
I don’t believe in blind idealism: An interview with Katarzyna Boni
The author of "Auroville: The City Made of Dreams" talks about the difficulties of establishing (and writing about) utopian societies.
Did our early ancestors boil their food in hot springs?
Scientists have found evidence of hot springs near sites where ancient hominids settled, long before the control of fire.
8 must-read books on the psychedelic experience
Psychedelics are going mainstream. Here's your reading list.
Scientists solve the origin of Stonehenge’s sarsen stones
Most of Stonehenge's megaliths, called sarens, came from West Woods, Wiltshire.
48,000-year-old bone arrowheads and jewelry discovered in Sri Lankan cave
Artifacts uncovered in southeast Asia offer clues on early complex human cultures.
This is how you overcome a language barrier
Don't worry about grammar rules at first. They'll only trip you up.
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Here’s a new way to do study abroad during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond
Would you study abroad online?
Cannabis discovered at an ancient biblical shrine in Israel
That's not frankincense you smell at the "holy of the holies."
The DMT ‘elves’ people meet while tripping
Why do so many people encounter these 'elves' after smoking large doses of DMT?
Mind hack: 7 secrets to learn any new language
Now is the perfect time to take up a new language. Self-motivation and commitment are key to mastering this fun and useful new skill.
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Should we defend the free speech of everyone — extremists included?
You can't really have an opinion if you don't know all sides of the argument.
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The precise meaning of emotion words is different around the world
Is the experience we call "love" felt the same in every language?
Plato and Hobbes: Two bad metaphors for society—and a better one
Understanding society as an ever-changing archipelago, rather than as a fixed, closed structure.
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Move over, math. The universal language is world music.
A new study finds that societies use the same acoustic features for the same types of songs, suggesting universal cognitive mechanisms underpinning world music.
Perception of musical pitch varies across cultures
Is the way we hear music biological or cultural?
What does self-actualization mean in different cultures?
Critics complain that Maslow's hierarchy of needs focuses too much on the West. Yet other cultures often have similar ideas about personal development.
Is globalization doomed? Economist Michael O’Sullivan believes so.
Why one expert believes it is knocking on death's door.
U.S. in top 10 most dangerous countries for women
#MeToo and #TimesUp catapult America into the club of world's most anti-women countries.
The dancing species: How moving together in time helps make us human
"In so far as bodily movements build the brain, every movement a human makes matters."
Listen to (what’s likely) Frida Kahlo’s voice
The iconic 20th-century artist might not sound how you'd expect.
Why we might want to rethink who we put on money
We put presidents on our money, but isn't there more to life than politics?
Cú Chulainn: Irish mythology’s Incredible Hulk
Humanity has long been obsessed with individuals who, in a fit of rage, transform into something not-quite human. Irish mythology serves up another example.
7 fascinating UNESCO World Heritage Sites
Here are 7 often-overlooked World Heritage Sites, each with its own history.
Why Lil Dicky made this star-studded Earth Day music video
"Earth" features about 30 of the biggest names in entertainment.
Meet the Bajau sea nomads — they can reportedly hold their breath for 13 minutes
The Bajau people's nomadic lifestyle has given them remarkable adaptions, enabling them to stay underwater for unbelievable periods of time. Their lifestyle, however, is quickly disappearing.
10 of the most controversial people in Russian history
The hard part was keeping the list down to ten.
Love in a time of migrants: on rethinking arranged marriages
Arranged marriages and Western romantic practices have more in common than we might think.