If it isn’t in another category, it is here.
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 [...]
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 [...]
A little over a year ago, in early November, we launched this site as a way of promoting a conversation across different realms of social endeavor, with the aim of showcasing the ineluctable if fragile force of the humanities. As its mission, the site asks questions about the humanities' role in these realms, appreciating the [...]
The human difference? Perhaps the humanities: fluid language and historical sensibility. From the article: The first astonishing fact is that we can speak at all, of course. No matter what you’ve been thinking and feeling throughout the day, you will be able to find words to express the experience and describe it to those around [...]
The same wavelength: how language stimulates the brains of speakers and listeners in similar ways. Prof. Uri Hasson of Princeton, a philosophy undergraduate major, studies the complexity of understanding with imagination and magnetic resonance imaging. From the article: On average, the listener's brain responses mirrored the speaker's brain responses with some time delays. The delays [...]
Platinum, poetry, and the past: using science to imagine the poet's response to history Honest criticism and sensitive appreciation is directed not upon the poet but upon the poetry.... In the last article I tried to point out the importance of the relation of the poem to other poems by other authors, and suggested the conception [...]
Voices heard: humanities in the public media. How the arts of communication allow deeper and broader conversation. From the article: Eric Garcia McKinley [a History Ph.D.] will eventually try to engage with underrepresented communities, informing how Minnesota Public Radio’s journalists approach issues of identity and perspective. His academic background has prepared him for that job, something journalists [...]
Winter Dreams: F. Scott Fitzgerald. An evocative look at Fitzgerald's life and work.
On Politics and Poetry: a dialogue between a poet and a politician Politician: What’s going on, poet? Are you able to scrabble together a living? Poet: Rich enough, I suppose, though it’s hard to earn my bread. What about you: still hungry for attention? Politician: That’s rich, coming from you! I have the best interests of [...]
From past stupidity to future intelligence: Stephen Hawking speaks, not without irony, about AI at the new Centre for the Future of Intelligence at Cambridge. From his remarks: We spend a great deal of time studying history, which, let’s face it, is mostly the history of stupidity. So it is a welcome change that people [...]
