Historian Maria Mavroudi (UC Berkeley) relates a formative insight that she received as a student from the eminent Byzantist Alexander Kazhdan about how to properly look at what makes a "great civilization."

Intellectual historian Darrin McMahon (Dartmouth College) gives us a personal taste of what intellectual history is uniquely qualified to address, and what attracts him to the field.

Intellectual historian Stefan Collini, University of Cambridge, details how C.P. Snow’s celebrated lecture The Two Cultures has broadly permeated the public consciousness in a way that typically obscures Snow’s central ethical motivation...

Historian Martin Jay, UC Berkeley, describes how a study of history can sharpen our moral understanding, showing that, rather than adhering to inflexible rules of behaviour, each situation presents a unique set of “competing moral...

Historian Martin Jay (UC Berkeley) highlights the importance of wrestling with the subtle and often deceptive nature of language in order to fully appreciate the cultural values of any particular society.

Historian David Armitage (Harvard) details the deep revulsion that civil war held for ancient Romans and how it deeply threatened their ideas of citizenship and belonging.

David Cannadine, a history professor at Princeton University, reflects on his upbringing in Birmingham in the 1950s and 1960s, where he was surrounded by remnants of a 19th-century Victorian world. Influenced by the close connection...

Historian John Elliott, University of Oxford, describes how historians studying societies other than their own need to balance objective assessment and societal assimilation, a balancing act that invariably brings with it a multitude of...

I wrote the lyrics to this one and put it to the tune of a familiar kids' song. I think it turned out well!

How to say "gimme a break!" in Spanish (Día 79)

Metaphors and Similes explores metaphors and similes by interpreting literal and figurative meanings.

Oops! It just doesn't make sense why I would upload this so late when the day is practically over! Oh well. The phrase this time is to say: It doesn't make sense.

Social psychologist Roy Baumeister (Queensland) describes aspects of his current research of how people think about the future.

Are AI-Synthesized Faces More Trustworthy?

6 Tips for Applying To PhD Programs | Harvard + MIT Medical Engineering PhD Student

University of Chicago theoretical physicist Rocky Kolb relates his belief that a valuable way of teaching science is to focus on the compelling stories of the people at the root of scientific discovery.

Particle physicist Nima Arkani-Hamed ​​​​​​​(Institute for Advanced Study) describes how physics' two guiding principles demonstrate both rigidity and fragility,

Award-winning violinmaker and acoustical researcher Joseph Curtin continues his description of how the design of the violin might be improved upon, this time focussing on changes to the sound.

Paul Steinhardt (Princeton) describes how his early investigations into amorphous metals revealed a surprising icosahedral symmetry which led him on the road towards quasicrystals.

Particle physicist Nima Arkani-Hamed (Institute for Advanced Study) emphasizes the importance of finding different descriptions for the same physical laws.

Celebrated polymath and mathematical physicist Freeman Dyson (IAS) describes why he is not a reductionist.

Nobel Laureate Antony Leggett describes his gut feeling that cosmology is ripe for a major revolution, and describes why he is not particularly sympathetic to the field of "quantum cosmology".

Nobel Laureate Roger Penrose, University of Oxford, describes a profound puzzle that he's been wrestling with throughout his entire research career: how is it possible that the universe began in a peculiar state of both minimum and...

Penn physicist Justin Khoury describes how, while many believe that becoming a professional scientist or mathematician is all a question of "natural talent", in his view the most significant attributes for success are passion and...