If you gathered every American with a prison record into one contiguous territory and admitted it to the union, you would create the 12th-largest state. It would be home to at least 7 million to 8 million people and hold a dozen votes in the Electoral College. In a close presidential race, this hypothetical state...
We are all born naked, and sculptures of the human body in its natural state are as old as humankind. In the history of art, nudity does not have just one meaning; it can express everything from innocence to sexual desire, from triumph to defeat. The 20th-century art historian Kenneth Clark made a distinction between...
The death of Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, the leader of the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), on February 22 was immediately framed as the fall of a narco kingpin. Images of gun battles, torched vehicles and retaliatory violence dominated headlines. Commentators spoke of a power vacuum, of fragmentation, of the possible weakening of one...
Bad Bunny likes to remind the world where he and his music come from. In “EoO,” a song from his 2025 album “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS,” he raps, “‘Tás escuchando música de Puerto Rico” (“You’re listening to music from Puerto Rico”). Similarly, in the album’s second track, “VOY A LLeVARTE PA PR,” he announces that...
When Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen died on Oct. 15, 2018, he left behind an estimated US$26 billion that he wanted to largely leave to charity. Allen died at 65 of septic shock after a yearslong cancer battle. He’s back in the news because his estate is finally selling an asset that represents nearly a quarter...
This year the cities of Trenčín in Slovakia and Oulu in Finland took the helm as Europe’s cultural beacon cities. As the Old Continent redefines its role on the global geopolitical stage, the European Capitals of Culture (ECoC) programme is at a turning point. The European Commission recently launched a public forum initiative to collectively...
When a 5-inch-by-4-inch red chalk drawing of a woman’s foot by Michelangelo sold at auction for US$27.2 million on Feb. 5, 2026, it blew past the $1.5 million to $2 million it was expected to receive. Experts believe it to be a study for the figure of the Libyan Sibyl, a female prophet who appears...
Framing raises in dollars, not percentages, helps reduce gender gaps During the 60 years since pay discrimination became illegal in the United States, gender pay equity has remained stubbornly elusive. The gap between women and men increased in 2024, with women earning 80.9 cents for every dollar men make for the same work, according to the Institute for...
Michelangelo’s fresco of “The Last Judgment,” covering the wall behind the altar of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City, is being restored. The work, which started on Feb. 1, 2026, is expected to continue for three months. The Sistine Chapel is one of the great masterpieces of Renaissance art. As the setting where the College...
“Humble” is not a word my colleagues would use to describe me, especially early in my career. In fact, when word got around that I was researching humility, I suspect more than a few choked on their coffee. And even though I have spent over a decade exploring the concept as an attribute and as...
