culture

Despite losing most of his extended family to the guillotine, Tocqueville grew up to become a fervent supporter of democratic revolution.

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?

Admit it: you have no idea why a group of crows is called a murder. Here’s why.

People around the world, mostly Generation Z, are obsessed with the look and feel of gothic, elitist universities. Why?

It has been 50 years since an American has claimed the title of World Chess Champion. Will it ever happen again?

Pizzanomics isn’t an official field of research, but it can save you big money.

Death is the great and terrifying unknown, awaiting us all at the end of this life. Giving it a personality makes it easier to gaze upon.

Humans seemingly have opposing desires to fit in and to be unique. The interplay between these might drive the evolution of fads.

Distinguishing fact from fiction can be tough, especially when it comes to people as controversial as Stalin. 

Famished, not famous: retrace Orwell’s hunger days, when he was one of the city’s legion of poor foreigners.

Pokémon has people wandering the world to enslave wild and magical creatures so they can fight in painful blood sports. What’s fun about that?

Setting resolutions for the new year means you think the future is up to you — but is it?

One player’s pawn is another’s farmer. And at one time, the queen was a rather powerless virgin.

Historians have been able to piece together a clear picture of how the average Roman citizen spent their waking hours.

Stress – and how you manage it – is catching.

If you put very fine black powder powder in a confined space it explodes in a cloud of heat, gas and noise.

Haters and disrespect aside, fruitcake is still a robust American tradition.

For consumers of festive beverages, the news is bad: this holiday season, Guinness may not be on tap and glass for bottling wine is scarce. Climate disasters, like British Columbia’s floods, have further weakened already […]

Ever felt sad during the holidays but weren’t sure why? Chances are you were suffering from a case of Christmas Blues.

The German-American cartoonist introduced the idea that Santa Claus traveled with a sleigh and reindeer.

Just don’t expect the apocalypse to look like it does in the movies.

For relatives who live far apart, holiday rituals may be the glue that holds the family together.

In her 2020 book, “The Alchemy of Us,” Ainissa Ramirez explores how important material inventions shaped the course of human experience.

In America, Cup Noodles has succeeded by hiding its Japanese roots.

It’s that time of year when the hours of meticulous wrapping of Christmas toys are viciously undone in seconds by tiny children.

Just as storylines make sense only when you have the context of the beginning and the end, listeners need to understand the impetus for why the album was even made.

The number of people with whom we interact is highest around 40, but then things change substantially after that.

For such a near-universal concept, the definition of “heroism” is difficult to pin down.

Hit shows are like societal mirrors, capable of reflecting the cultural zeitgeist whose likeness they try to record.