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History and Society
Be famous within five miles.
Mesopotamian beer was not flavored with hops, and it was probably on the thick, porridgey side.
Could anyone still meet the Theoretical Minimum?
Cable news has a bigger effect, study finds.
Mixed messages and competing interests have left college students feeling lost and stressed.
Many people lived long enough to grow old in the olden days, too.
Thanks to genetics and improving nutrition, denizens of the Western Balkans have surpassed the Dutch in height.
Bloodcurdling war cries, shrieking elephants, and whistling arrows all made soldiers flee in terror.
We will become billions of people who share a single vast intellect.
Humans tend to hunker down in our own minds and trust what we already believe to be true. This emotion-based way of thought isn't often the best way to think about anything, and often leads to gridlock.
John Templeton Foundation
More than mindless bloodshed, the gladiatorial games were organized sports. Gladiators were treated as world-class athletes, receiving superior diets and medical care.
Argentina's black market for cash is embracing crypto — but it's not what crypto proponents expected.
"When you see me, weep." When rivers dry up in Central Europe, "hunger stones" with ominous inscribed warnings from centuries past reappear.
It’s all about salesmanship.
Magnetic monopoles began as a mere theoretical curiosity. They might hold the key to understanding so much more.
Break into London Zoo? Illegal, but it would improve the London Circle Walk
The false assumption the Multiverse relies on is that something which exists requires an explanation.
An upstart third party is unlikely to dislodge the status quo in the current system.
“The very best arguments against God have been formulated by believers.”
John Templeton Foundation
Short-termism is both rooted in our most primal instincts and encouraged by runaway technological development. How can we fight it?
We're still using 800,000 gallons of embalming fluid a year, but burials are becoming far less common.
For a time, Francis Fukuyama looked like a prophet.
Why, exactly, should you die for your child?
Here's what it means for the field.
Video cameras on city streets are only the most visible way your movements can be tracked.
When justice isn’t tempered by something such as mercy, forgiveness, or nonviolence, efforts to make society more equitable often backfire.
John Templeton Foundation
We've been somewhat lucky in the past...
There's an extra source of massive "stuff" in our Universe beyond what gravitation and normal matter can explain. Could light be the answer?
Some artifacts drown in shipwrecks, others are taken by the tide. Many others will vanish as a result of climate change and rising sea levels.