Society & Culture
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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,…
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Read more: The History of Miniature Mt. Fuji Shrines
In a quiet corner of a Tokyo neighborhood, tucked behind the gates of a Shinto shrine stands a small mound of rocks and earth shaped unmistakably like the cone of Mount Fuji. These are miniature Mt. Fuji mounds, known as fujizuka, and they are far more than just playgrounds. They represent a link across centuries…
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Read more: How Beer Domesticated Humans
Imagine a time in prehistory when humans stumbled upon a happy accident: a mash of wild grains left in a pot that turned into a fizzy, mildly intoxicating brew. The standard story of civilization suggests that our ancestors first domesticated grains to fill their bellies with bread, and only later discovered the pleasant side effect…
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Read more: Blue Zones: Places Where We Live Longer & Why
High in the mountains of Sardinia, Italy, a 95-year-old shepherd sets out at dawn, trekking up and down rocky hills with his goats. Half a world away on the Japanese island of Okinawa, a 100-year-old woman begins her day tending a small vegetable garden, later meeting her lifelong friends for a chat and green tea.…
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Read more: A New Dawn for Psychedelics – Microdosing and the Road to Legalization
In the mid-20th century, psychedelic substances like LSD and psilocybin mushrooms went from scientific curiosities to symbols of the counterculture. In the 1950s and 60s, researchers explored LSD’s potential to treat mental illness, and some psychiatrists reported promising results. But by the late 1960s, these hallucinogens escaped the lab and exploded into popular use, sparking…
