The Greatest of New Years: that our age of science is also the age of the humanities, from our St. Petersburg correspondent, 1 January 2017 “S nastupivishim!”: “Happy upcoming New Year!” So the new year begins here, ahead of yours, and we have been enjoying the sparkling lights in the Nevsky Prospekt. There are fewer tourists [...]
Time and remembrance: recalling our place in the change of the year opens up new possibilities for us to commemorate the lives of others, to "preserve frail transitory fame," and also to acknowledge the source of what is lasting and eternal. To the Countess of Bedford, On New Year's Day THIS twilight of two years, not past, nor [...]
The English we thought we knew: now that the majority of English speakers is non-native, how is that changing the language, our prime means of communication? Is the English-speaking world getting larger, or more fragmented: more coherent, or more incoherent? And what does this portend for the learning of other languages? From the article: With non-native English speakers [...]
Learning, language, and moral character: to what degree does education, in humanities or the sciences, influence our moral progress? Their own weakness, however, is not the only factor which can make students of philosophy waver and double back. The earnest advice of friends and the mocking, bantering attacks of critics can also, on their occurrence, [...]
Science and the music of history: is this a new age of knowledge? A scientist and an historian discuss the value of the past, and the promise of the future. Scientist: Hey there, Scrupulus, what have you been up to this morning? Historian: Oh hello, Speculus. Just listening to music. Scientist: I like to do that, [...]
Virginia Woolf: A Mind of Her Own Her life from Kensington and Cornwall to Bloomsbury and Sussex
Embedding ethics in the code driving technology.
Memory's saving grace: how history, carried in deep recollection, can rescue us in adversity. Meantime they were strolling slowly along the path and suddenly Smurov exclaimed: “There's Ilusha's stone, under which they wanted to bury him.” They all stood still by the big stone. Alyosha looked and the whole picture of what Snegiryov had described [...]
Medicine, morality, and suffering: what can experience teach us about medical objectivity? “There is no real difference between a warm, snug study and this ward,” said Andrey Yefimitch. “A man's peace and contentment do not lie outside a man, but in himself.” “What do you mean?” “The ordinary man looks for good and evil [...]
Nursery rhymes and brain development: "baby talk" of parents brings children in sync with their brain waves, helping them learn. From the article: The early indications are that when the brain waves of mothers and babies are out of sync, the babies learn less well. But when the two sets of brainwaves are in tune [...]
