Society & Culture
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Read more: Loch Ness Monster & The Surgeon’s Photo: Evidence or Hoax?
Some legends are born in the mouth, carried from hearth to hearth and polished by generations. Others are born in a press room, stamped onto paper in a single day and multiplied into thousands of identical memories. The modern legend of the Loch Ness Monster grew from both kinds of birth: older Scottish stories about…
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Read more: What are Microplastics and Why is Everyone Talking About Them?
Every day, countless primary microplastics enter the environment directly through human use. When you rinse off a face scrub that contains tiny polyethylene beads, those particles swirl down the drain and pass through water treatment filters with ease, eventually emptying into rivers and oceans. Each time you wash a fleece jacket or polyester shirt, hundreds…
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Read more: Five Undocumented Immigrants Who Enriched America
In this article, with tensions high in the U.S. I wanted to present the stories of five people who entered the country illegally and contributed to the fabric of our culture. America’s story is woven from the journeys of immigrants – including those who arrived not through official channels, but through determination and hope. In…
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Read more: Why We Engage with Political Rage Bait
Social media was once envisioned as a marketplace of ideas bringing people together. Paradoxically, it often does the opposite – provoking outrage-driven engagement. A recent study coined the “confrontation effect” to describe how people are more likely to interact with content that challenges their views than content that affirms them. In other words, posts that…
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Read more: Eating Seasonal Produce: Winter Edition
Although we’re used to instant access to world produce… with everything available year-round we should consider how a seasonal diet can benefit our health. Eating like our ancestors isn’t just a fad or a flex… it can be crucial in a time of rapidly changing climate and political unrest. Winter casts a long shadow over…
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Read more: Toys as Friends: The Psychology of How Children View their Plush Companions
In a quiet corner of the house, a child sits cross-legged, absorbed in conversation. There’s no one else in the room (at least, not that we can see). But to the little girl chatting away, her companion is very real: an imaginary friend perched right beside her, nodding and giggling at all the right moments.…
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Read more: The Rise of Dark Christmas: Folklore, Mischief, and Pop Culture
On a crisp December night, under twinkling lights and candy cane stripes, a different kind of Christmas spirit stirs. Instead of sugarplum fairies, we glimpse horned silhouettes and skeletal grins peeking from the edges of our holiday cheer. A new generation has welcomed old ghosts and dark visitors into the season’s festivities. Figures like Krampus,…
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Read more: The Winter Within – How Christmas Affects the Mind & Body
Twinkling lights, cheerful carols, and promises of peace on Earth – Christmas arrives each year painted in joyous colors. Yet behind the festive facade lies a more complex human experience. For many people, the holiday season is as much a time of emotional strain as it is of celebration. The contrast between Hallmark-card ideals and…
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Read more: Holidays without Christmas: A Collection of Winter Festivals from Around the World
As a non-christian omnist, I have complicated feelings about the celebration of Christmas. Although we in the United States are often told that a “traditional” Christ-focused Christmas is central to the American identity, the truth is that Christmas was outlawed for several decades by a congress that was, arguably, made up of more practicing Christians.…
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Read more: Milton Cooper to QAnon: How Behold a Pale Horse Shaped Modern Conspiracy Culture
On a November night in 2001, in the high desert of Arizona, a peculiar chapter of American conspiracy lore came to a violent end. Milton William “Bill” Cooper—an ex-Navy radio broadcaster turned author—died in a shootout with sheriff’s deputies on his own property, guns blazing. Cooper had often declared he would never be taken alive,…
