As a teenager in the 1980s, I was shown a BBC drama in school called Threads that depicted the impact of a nuclear strike on a city in northern England. Threads is a brutal vision of a terrifying reality that I imagine haunted many people in the years before the end of the cold war....
The October 7th massacre and the unprecedented war in Gaza compel Israel to rethink its conception of security. It cannot afford to do so without including a gender-based analysis. After two years of missiles, hostages, and the catastrophic toll of hunger and mass casualties of civilians in Gaza, Israel’s society is exhausted. After the war...
When Napoleon embarked upon a military expedition into Egypt in 1798, he brought with him a team of scholars, scientists and artists. Together, they produced the monumental “Description de l’Égypte,” a massive, multivolume work about Egyptian geography, history and culture. At the time, the United States was a young nation with big aspirations, and Americans...
In July 2025, Uganda’s courts swiftly dismissed a petition challenging the legality of polygamy, citing the protection of religious and cultural freedom. For most social scientists and policymakers who have long declared polygamy a “harmful cultural practice,” the decision was a frustrating but predictable setback in efforts to build healthier and more equal societies. In...
The burying ground looks like an abandoned lot. Holding the remains of upward of 22,000 enslaved and free people of color, the Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground in Richmond, Virginia, established in 1816, sits amid highways and surface roads. Above the expanse of unmarked graves loom a deserted auto shop, a power substation, a massive...
A research group led by Professor Emeritus Takuji Hoshino of Okayama University of Science (OUS) has successfully developed a new wine grape variety named “Muscat Shiragai”, created by crossing the wild species Shiraga grape—native only to the Takahashi River basin in Okayama Prefecture—with Muscat of Alexandria. The group has filed for new variety registration with Japan’s Ministry...
Trani, Puglia, where stone is more than material—it is memory. Walls and courtyards, carved centuries ago, stand as silent witnesses to lives once lived. For artist Valerio Galati, these same stones have become both his canvas and his calling, a medium through which he translates a life shaped first by the sea, and now by...
Most people know roughly what kind of lifestyle they should be living to stay healthy. Think regular exercise, a balanced diet and sufficient sleep. Yet, despite all the hacks, trackers and motivational quotes, many of us still struggle to stick with our health goals. Meanwhile, people worldwide are experiencing more lifestyle-associated chronic disease than ever...
New AI robo-advisor start-ups, shippers save hundreds of workdays, but most dealers remain wary. Is technology transforming the art world, or stuck at the margins? Almost everyone working in the art market uses AI on a daily basis – but since AI-powered tools became widespread in 2023, how much have they really been embraced by...
Forget the studio: today’s artists are working with algorithms, particle colliders, and glass furnaces It was during their art-and-tech residency at CERN, Switzerland, in 2022, that the artist duo Dorota Gawęda and Eglė Kulbokaitė first noticed how closely their approach to making art mirrored scientific practice. ‘In our work, there’s always a need to question...
