Bowling alleys and social capital

You might ask what bowling alleys have to do with social cohesion? Or even what relationship exists between individual health predictors and membership in a book club?

05.2021 | Kim Segel

How not to be an art pleb

Strolling through the Louvre, I realise my mind has already left the building. It’s contemplating the gateau I’ll enjoy later in a lovely Parisian patisserie.

05.2021 | Lesley Stones

Extreme Ironing

Air-guitar, hobby horsing, bunny jumping, curling… there are tonnes of sports that do not get their due. If you are looking to combine a love of white goods and extreme challenges, then Extreme Ironing may be for you.

04.2021 | Amanda Jones

The evolution of ‘Woke’

Considering the origins of this activist byword, has it been diluted into mere online slang by mainstream use?

Do you consider yourself to be woke? If you do, you probably know that this term for being enlightened or aware, particularly about racism and social justice, is a political byword of African-American origin.

04.2021 | Tiffany Markman

The 4th Industrial Revolution Series: The Robots are NOT coming

When the short stocky man in the front row started to shout at me, I was horrified. He waved his hands as he growled in a deep voice. He blamed me for “this Fourth Industrial Revolution”.

04.2021 | Barry Dwolatzky

Bought for pennies

This may come as a shock to many young men and women today who keep their fingers busy only on a keypad, but the fact is that people used to write letters to their friends.

03.2021 | Peter Dearlove

A will of steel

Legendary artist, feminist icon, playful exhibitionist, champion of Mexican culture … Frida Kahlo has been described in many ways. But despite her passionate persona, much of her life was marred by deep, physical pain which dominated her powerful portraits.

03.2021 | Ingrid Wood

Humanities vs the Sciences

For those of you into your second or third decades in the working world, think back to a point in time during high school when the conversation with parents, and sometimes teachers, was about future study choices and career ambitions.

03.2021 | Nicole Wills

The Dark secret of time travel

All storytelling is fundamentally about a change in fortune: Someone had or gained something, only to lose it—says Kurt Vonnegut.

03.2021 | Lee Blake

Wasteful saving and the curious case for negative interest rates

Oscar Wilde’s whimsical 1800’s quote “money was made to be spent, therefore, to save it is a waste of money” recently became true. This is the result of the growing global phenomenon of negative interest rates.

03.2021 | Jon Stilwell

High achievers

History of biohacking and performance enhancement

From the ancient Greek Olympians to modern technopreneurs, human beings have always looked to outperform each other.

02.2021 | Debra Shepherd

The man who created a universe

I suppose many tributes begin with some background information on their early lives, their ancestry, possibly even make reference to the fact that they had a different name at birth. To be honest all of these things seem far too grounded in our universe.

02.2021 | Alistair Duff

Liespotting series:
A beginner’s guide to becoming a human lie detecting machine

In a previous article we discussed the emergence of the study of lies. We discussed the heavy lifting scientific work done by Ekman and Matsumoto and the amazing contributions that they have made to our understanding of this science.

02.2021 | Alistair Duff

The weird world of quantum computers

The magician gazed out at his audience. “It’s a cold night,” he said. “Does anyone have a pair of gloves I can borrow?”

01.2021 | Barry Dwolatzky

The mermaid man

Marine mammal scientist Dr Vic Cockcroft fears that the “mermaids” he studies may be doomed.

01.2021 | Tom Learmont

Is the music no longer good or are you just getting old?

People of my generation and older generally aren’t qualified to comment on the state of music today. I’m 30 years old and I have to concede that my peers and I long entered the stage of our lives in which we start to sound more and more like our parents.

12.2020 | Kibo Ngowi