Society & Culture
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Read more: How Did Escape Artists, Strongmen and Acrobats Become Superheroes?
A crowd gathers under the bright stripes of the circus tent, hearts pounding as a man wrapped in chains struggles inside a water tank. Minutes feel like hours… submerged… entombed in impossible knots of metal. Just when it seems no human could survive even a second longer, he bursts free, arms raised in triumph as…
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Read more: Fact or Fiction? The UFO Abduction Mystery of Travis Walton
Travis Walton on an ordinary November night stood at the edge of an Arizona forest, under an inky black sky studded with stars. With the crunch of gravel under their truck’s tires and lantern light reflecting off pine needles, the six members of his logging crew watched in a mix of awe and dread. In…
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Read more: Modern Folklore: Exploring Miyazaki’s Fantasy World
Hayao Miyazaki’s animated films have transcended cultural boundaries to captivate audiences around the world. Often called Japan’s answer to Walt Disney, Miyazaki has created rich fantasy worlds steeped in Japanese folklore and mythology that nonetheless feel universally accessible. Children and adults from Los Angeles to London find themselves enchanted by forest spirits, witch’s charms, and…
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Read more: Art and Science: Three Celebrity Geniuses
We often draw a sharp line between art and science, imagining on one side the free-spirited artist and on the other the meticulous scientist. Yet history and human creativity frequently defy this division. In truth, the same spark that drives a musician to compose a melody or an actress to inhabit a role can drive…
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Read more: Meltdown: Ocean Climate, Politics, Trade Routes
In the far north, where the world’s oceans meet the polar ice, a profound transformation is underway. The Arctic—once sealed by thick, unyielding sheets of ice—is thawing. Summer by summer, the white expanse that crowned our planet is shrinking, revealing blue water where there was none before. Where explorers of old once dreamed of a…
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Read more: Inventing New Gods and Reimagining Old
Despite living in an age of scientific marvels and secular philosophies, humanity’s fascination with gods and the divine has not vanished – it has merely shape-shifted. We continue to invent new gods, even as we reinterpret the old ones to find a place for them in our modern lives. This enduring phenomenon raises a compelling…
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Read more: The Spectacle of Evolution
In the late 20th century, philosophers warned of a coming Spectacle – a world where reality would be eclipsed by images and appearances. They saw modern life turning into an immense show, a perpetual carnival of impressions. In this spectacle, everything that was directly lived began to move into representation, as one thinker famously put…
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Read more: Is There a Moral Obligation to Grant Rights to Artificial Life?
Moral progress often involves expanding our circle of concern beyond our own kind. In past centuries, basic rights were denied to many humans on the basis of race, gender, or class; over time, these distinctions have been eroded as we recognized shared personhood. In recent decades, we’ve begun to seriously discuss rights for non-human creatures.…
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Read more: Does Transcendental Meditation Improve Creativity?
A soft morning light spills into a cluttered studio. In the corner, a famous songwriter sits quietly with eyes closed, a gentle rise and fall of breath the only motion. No audience applauds this scene; no camera captures it. For twenty minutes, the artist lets the world fall away, repeating a silent mantra. In that…
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Read more: Growing Beyond the Competitive Lens: Reframing Human Nature Toward Cooperation
On a sunny playground, a group of children races toward a finish line… Nearby, a teacher posts gold stars on a chart for the top test scores, while parents speak proudly of their kid being “ahead of the others.” Scenes like these play out every day, teaching us a powerful lesson early on: life is…
