DNA and dynasty: tracing history through science (Andrew Curry, National Geographic)
Modern DNA analysis reveals clues to changes in Native American society beginning in the ninth century CE.
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02, 2017
22
02, 2017
Humanities in the Age of Big Data
Humanities in the Age of Big Data: an historian tries to unravel the consequences for ourselves and our way of life. Dataism is a new ethical system that says, yes, humans were special and important because up until now they were the most sophisticated data processing system in the universe, but this is no longer [...]
15
02, 2017
The humanities at Davos (YaleNews)
The humanities at Davos: Yale's President Peter Salovey, a scholar of emotional intelligence, speaks at the World Economic Forum about the place of humanities. From the article: Speaking at the reception ... Salovey emphasized the ways that the humanities can promote understanding, such as how the study of languages can provide insights into a culture, reading literature can [...]
28
01, 2017
The busyness of business, the practice of inwardness (R. Hougaard, J. Carter, G. Dybkjaer, Harvard Business Review)
The busyness of business, and the practice of inwardness: how business leaders are profiting from the ancient method of mindfulness, as it leads to more rewarding decisions. From the article: Research has found that mindfulness training alters our brains and how we engage with ourselves, others, and our work. When practiced and applied, mindfulness fundamentally alters the operating [...]
22
01, 2017
Humanities aid the growth of STEM (Neil Kobitz, Chronicle for Higher Education)
Humanities aid the growth of STEM: a mathematics professor calculates their value, an important formula...when others are now estimating the worth of the NEH as close to zero. From the editorial: ... [F]or STEM majors, as much as for other future professionals, a broad background in the humanities is likely to give them a tremendous advantage in [...]
15
01, 2017
Mocking the humanities (George Will, Pittsburgh Tribune)
Mocking the humanities: a pundit recounts how a scientist used parody -- a classic literary mode of expression -- to mock academic practices in the humanities. From the commentary: Alan Sokal's point ... was that intellectual inquiry in the humanities often is not open. The humanities, he today tells The Chronicle, had become a “subculture” [...]
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12, 2016
The English we thought we knew (Lennox Morrison, BBC Capital)
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 [...]
26
12, 2016
Daydreaming and neuroscience (Alison Gopnik, Wall Street Journal)
Daydreaming and neuroscience: how brain imaging may track the creative process fostered by the wandering mind. From the article: Dr. Christoff and colleagues suggest that creative thought involves a special interaction between these control systems and mind-wandering. In this activity, the control system holds a particular problem in mind but permits the brain to wander [...]
23
12, 2016
Do the humanities provide nothing?
Do the humanities provide nothing? And if so, does this "nothingness" reveal more than does science or other fields of knowledge? The Yellow Emperor went wandering To the north of the Red Water To the Kwan Lun mountain. He looked around Over the edge of the world. On the way home He lost his night-colored pearl. [...]
13
12, 2016
The breath of memory: the science of our historical lives (ScienceDaily)
The breath of memory: the science of our historical lives. How we breathe, and when we breathe, affects the way we recognize and recall what lies before us. A new study has wide implications for our reading and understanding the world's many forms of expression. From the study: The rhythm of breathing creates electrical activity in the [...]