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History and Society
When Saint Ambrose of Milan was venerated, his life became public property, its meaning expanding with the unique interpretations of each new generation.
With this unique opportunity to create a totally new world, why does the metaverse already feature such old-world concepts?
Many first-hand accounts from the golden age of piracy were grossly embellished, meaning it's extremely difficult to separate Blackbeard the legend from Edward Thatch the person.
Space planes could radically lower the cost of spaceflight.
One hundred years ago, a Ukrainian flag flew over Vladivostok and other parts of the “Russian” Far East.
For a long time, important events could only be visualized retroactively through paintings. Photography allowed us to capture history as — or sometimes even before — it happened.
A new analysis of an ancient hominin fossil sheds light on the "Out of Africa" dispersal events that occurred more than one million years ago.
In scientific theories, the Multiverse appears as a bug rather than as a feature. We should squash it.
According to Sigmund Freud, our revulsion at taboos is an attempt to suppress a part of us that actually wants to do them.
There are ~400 billion stars in the Milky Way, and ~2 trillion galaxies in the visible Universe. But what if we aren't typical?
From physics and alchemy to theology and eschatology, Isaac Newton’s research was rooted in a personal pursuit of the Divine.
Is hope more realistic than despair? Aquinas thinks so.
Math offers good evidence that humans can solve any problem — as long as there’s money in it.
We know more about the universe than what is beneath our feet. But Earth's mantle holds subtle clues about our planet's past.
Life’s stages are changing – we need new terms and new ideas to describe how adults develop and grow
Ages 30 to 45 are now “the rush hour of life.”
Iceland consistently ranks as the most gender-equal nation. It is also the nation where men and women are most likely to pursue sex-typical jobs.
The Siege of Leningrad lasted over two years and claimed nearly a million lives. It also inspired writers to record the bleak conditions in which they lived.
Behind the scenes, Hitler had at least three disastrous relationships, including a short-lived marriage.
Solitude, by itself, does not predict feelings of loneliness.
Just 12 million light-years away, the galaxies Messier 81 and 82 offer a nearby preview of the Milky Way-Andromeda merger.
Dating of volcanic ash suggests the remains are at least 230,000 years old.
What was once an art form has been drained of color and personality by ruthless algorithms. Can we make chess human again?
Despite losing most of his extended family to the guillotine, Tocqueville grew up to become a fervent supporter of democratic revolution.
Since Ukraine originally meant “borderland,” the territory was already a target for several kingdoms.
The most feared sexually transmitted disease (STD) of the last half-millennium was usually named after foreigners, often the French.
Non-Western thought is vast and ancient, so why don't some consider it philosophy?
From succubi to aliens, stories of abductions or other unsettling encounters have been with us for millennia. What explains them?
Once numbering just 27 birds, the global population of California condors is now in the hundreds.
Beautiful people really know how to catch a break.
There are an estimated two trillion galaxies within the observable Universe. Most are already unreachable, and the situation only gets worse.