WEIRD HISTORY
By Dr. Christopher Binetti – a political scientist, historian, and adjunct professor at Middlesex county College in Edison, New Jersey. – Spain is facing an existential crisis. Catalonia, one of its seventeen constituent regions, has a government supported by a small majority that …
These puzzling holes in the arid valleys of southern Perú tell us there was once a flourishing, sophisticated society here. BBC Future | By William Park – In one of the most arid regions in the world a series of carefully constructed, spiraling …
How a killer flu spread from western Kansas to the world. By Beccy Tanner, The Wichita Eagle, February 19, 2018 – Ground Zero in one of the world’s deadliest influenza pandemics started quietly, inconspicuously. It was winter, 100 years ago. And it was …
By Mike Hanlon – Coachbuilt survivors from the Art Deco era. Artcurial, Bonhams & RM-Sotheby’s. – The automotive heritage industry relocates across the Atlantic Ocean this week, as Paris prepares to become the center of the automotive world once more with the staging of …
Most visitors will walk past 109 East Palace Avenue in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and have no idea that they are passing the site that once served as Robert Oppenheimer’s office. By Larry Bleiberg, 29 January 2020 – In the courtyard of a …
Many common terms in English have unexpected roots. Kelly Grovier explores the origins of seven words coined in art history, including the political meanings of ‘silhouette’ and ‘picturesque’, and how ‘mobile’ became ‘mob’. By Kelly Grovier – Which came first, the chicken or …
By ensuring that the Buddha’s teachings were transmitted across millennia, the religion helped develop and spread printing techniques around the world – as a new exhibition reveals. By Cameron Laux, 15 January 2020 – Do you ever feel like you’re trapped …
Confederate agents seeking European support were imprisoned by the U.S. consul, which ignited international protest. The arrest and the subsequent landing of U.S. troops could happen in Tangier, yet it was completely unthinkable just 12 milesaway in Gibraltar or 60 miles away in …
A wild new hypothesis links supernovae to a pivotal moment in human evolution. By Passant Rabie – Among the many things that gave ancient humans an evolutionary edge over other primate species is the ability to walk upright. But exactly why our ancestors …
The research proposes an intriguing new twist in one of the most fascinating moments in Earth’s history. By Passant Rabie – Some 65 million years ago, our planet encountered one of the darkest days in its history. The Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event resulted in …