One of the earliest known human sites speaks to the power of ritual. Today, let me show you how our ancestors related to ritual, how they used it, what it did for our entire species, and why ritual practices certainly change a lot over time, but they still matter today. Read more…
One of the world’s deadliest diseases, tuberculosis, is making a ferocious comeback in Kansas. But somehow, we only just learned about this situation. Kansas’ leaders seem dedicated to avoiding all mention of the outbreak. Today, let’s explore why tuberculosis is returning with such a vengeance—and why the masters of the Read more…
It’s a parable for the ages, really, what happened with Jimmy Carter. Once upon a time, what people knew about Jimmy Carter likely went along these lines: First, he was a one-term Democratic President of the United States, presiding over a time of great economic and political turmoil. Second, before Read more…
Evangelicals have expressed both dread regarding AI’s popularity and power, and excitement about its potential to turn around their decades-long decline. Many millions of dollars’ worth of evangelical money is concentrating on AI’s potential at the moment.
He was at one time a god so widely respected and feared that Romans went to great lengths to escape his power. But by the first century BCE, he had fallen into such obscurity that Ovid could refer to “a shrine dedicated to Summanus, whoever
he is.” What can the followers of other gods learn from his fate?
The AI chatbot Replika has always been an inconsistent app, but its latest changes have upset and confused its many fans. I can see why. Constant course changes inevitably upset any product’s userbase, but these are particularly poorly considered. Over time, people have subtly but irrevocably shifted how they engage Read more…
Many Christians seem to love the idea of humans being hardwired for belief. By this phrase, they mean that their god placed in each human’s heart a desire to worship something supernatural. Unfortunately, their god didn’t finish the job.
One of the very most human parts of the human situation is our love of stories. It’s how early humans formed groups and stuck together, and it’s how we learn even today.
One of the most potent ways historians connect people to our past is through facial reconstruction. As the technology to reproduce those ancient faces progresses, we’re discovering that we need to be aware of how we use it. Our biases can accidentally shift the appearance of those faces and distort Read more…
Today, Lord Snow Presides over the way one ancient human species, the Denisovans, reached the present day through our DNA.