Douglas Boin, Ph.D., a professor of history at Saint Louis University, made a major announcement at the annual meeting of the Archeological Institute of America, revealing he and his team discovered an ancient Roman temple that adds significant insights into the social change from pagan gods to Christianity within the Roman Empire. “We found three...
World
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The Uncomfortable Geopolitics of the Clean Energy Transition
Every time UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks about the climate crisis, he ups the ante with his admonishments—and rightly so. In September, when he said “humanity had opened the gates of hell,” it was at the end of a summer of unprecedented flooding, including in Libya, China, and the United States, and record-breaking fires in Canada and...
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Aging Societies More Vulnerable to Collapse
Societies and political structures, like the humans they serve, appear to become more fragile as they age, according to an analysis of hundreds of pre-modern societies. A new study, which holds implications for the modern world, provides the first quantitative support for the theory that the resilience of political states decreases over time. Triggers of...
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Intercepted Calls from the Front Lines in Ukraine Show a Growing Number of Russian Soldiers Want Out
In audio intercepts from the front lines in Ukraine, Russian soldiers speak in shorthand of 200s to mean dead, 300s to mean wounded. The urge to flee has become common enough that they also talk of 500s — people who refuse to fight. As the war grinds into its second winter, a growing number...
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Precious Water: As More of the World Thirsts, Luxury Water Becoming Fashionable Among the Elite
Monsoon rains have finally passed and floods blocking the lone dirt road have retreated enough for a small truck to climb these Himalayan foothills to a gurgling spring. It spews water so fresh that people here call it nectar. Workers inside a small plant ferry sleek glass bottles along a conveyer. The bottles, filled with...
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Why the Oct. 7 Attack Wasn’t Israel’s 9/11
Ever since October 7th, commentators, scholars, politicians, and Israeli officials alike have referred to the terrorist attack as a hyper-charged version of “Israel’s 9/11.” On its face, such a comparison makes sense. In both cases, the terrorist groups gained strategic surprise, an intelligence failure magnified though in Israel’s case by the fact that it has been locked in a...
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Human Rights Issues in Russia May Offer U.S. Leverage
he 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights reminds us of how much human rights diplomacy has reshaped and enriched international relations. Inspired by this, Washington might pursue more proactive human rights diplomacy with Moscow. The United States could shine a harsher light on human rights abuses in Russia, as it has done on Russian...
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In America, National Parks Are More Than Scenic − They’re Sacred. but They Were Created at a Cost to Native Americans
Abraham Lincoln has an almost saintly place in U.S. history: the “Great Emancipator” whose leadership during the Civil War preserved the Union and abolished slavery. Often overlooked among his achievements is legislation he signed June 30, 1864, during the thick of the war – but only marginally related to the conflict. The Yosemite Valley Grant...
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How Do Civilians Respond to Political Violence?
People act on their expectations about the future and beliefs about their ability to change outcomes. Policies directed at altering these expectations and beliefs can have stabilizing effects. Editor’s Note: When conflict breaks out, civilians inevitably suffer. But they do not react uniformly, with some fleeing, others staying, and still others joining the fray. Aidan Milliff...
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Forget ‘Man the Hunter’ – Physiological and Archaeological Evidence Rewrites Assumptions About a Gendered Division of Labor in Prehistoric Times
Prehistoric men hunted; prehistoric women gathered. At least this is the standard narrative written by and about men to the exclusion of women. The idea of “Man the Hunter” runs deep within anthropology, convincing people that hunting made us human, only men did the hunting, and therefore evolutionary forces must only have acted upon men....
