News
Updated 25 Oct, 05:30
90 articles · page 2 of 3
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How mental disorders play havoc with our motivation
Feeling energised to do something depends on a cost-benefit analysis that psychiatric conditions scramble in different ways - by Matthias Pillny Read on Psyche
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The Megaprojects That Even the Ancient Romans Couldn’t Pull Off: Rerouting the Tiber, Digging a Canal, and More
Some would call the United States of America the mightiest empire the world has ever known. Yet over the past half-century or so, it has shown a strange inability to build domestic infrastructure, at least at the efficiency or on the scale…
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Watch “The Midnight Parasites,” a Surreal Japanese Animation Set in the World of Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights (1972)
Hieronymus Bosch’s bizarre paintings might have looked perfectly ordinary to his contemporaries, argues Stanley Meisler in “The World of Bosch.” Modern viewers may find this very hard to believe. We approach Bosch through layers of…
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The Photographer Who Preserved Everyday Architecture
Frances Benjamin Johnston looked beyond grand estates to document the ordinary buildings that defined American life. The post The Photographer Who Preserved Everyday Architecture appeared first on JSTOR Daily.
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“Men with Queer Nerves”: The Jumping Frenchmen of Maine
In the late nineteenth century, visitors to Maine observed something strange: French-Canadian lumberjacks who, at the slightest stimulus, seemed to jump, strike out with their limbs, or mimic languages they could not speak. Ross Bullen…
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Into the fire
These women once fled ISIS. Now they defuse the landmines the militants left behind in their Yazidi homeland in northern Iraq - by Aeon Video Watch on Aeon
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Chu Prayad
Power, precision and acrobatic high kicks – the Southeast Asian sport of sepak takraw offers Prayad relief from the road - Directed by Habib Yazdi and Joseph Marra Watch on Psyche
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How to handle jealous feelings
Jealousy can be a useful, insightful emotion – if you manage it well. Get curious about your jealousy to get a grip on it - by Carla Marie Manly Read on Psyche
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Why Cleopatra, Lawrence of Arabia, Ben-Hur & Other Hollywood Classics Still Look So Good
Cleopatra cost Twentieth Century Fox $44 million, by the studio’s own estimate. That may sound like the budget of one of those genre pictures that winds up going straight to streaming, but if we convert those 1963 dollars into current…
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Soviet-Era Illustrations of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit (1976)
Until I read J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, my favorite book growing up was, by far, The Hobbit. Growing up in Russia, however, meant that instead of Tolkien’s English version, my parents read me a Russian translation. To me…
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What Do Cops Train For?
Research on police training finds that realistic simulations may reinforce expectations of violence instead of preventing it. The post What Do Cops Train For? appeared first on JSTOR Daily.
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Rudolf Kalvach’s Wiener Werkstätte Postcards (1907)
Postcards that summon medieval grotesques and brightly coloured folk art, but also feel distinctly modern.
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Deskilling the body
We are, moment by moment, doing less sensing, navigating, remembering, walking, choosing, and attending - by Melanie Challenger Read on Aeon
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What is hidden in the photographs we keep of each other?
Returning to family photo albums in my mother’s apartment in Japan, I was struck by the stories the images didn’t tell - by Sawa Kurotani Read on Psyche
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The Names of Nearly 4 Million Enslaved People in Former British Colonies Are Now Searchable Online, Helping Descendants Find Lost Ancestors
A few years ago, we featured here on Open Culture the Freedmen’s Bureau Project database, which contains searchable information on formerly enslaved people in the United States after its Civil War. With nearly 1.8 million men, women, and…
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Africa’s cultural landmarks: tombs of Buganda kings
Built from vegetal materials, these majestic tombs housing Buganda kings bridge the realms of living and dead in Uganda - by Aeon Video Watch on Aeon
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Is everything conscious?
If the question makes no sense to you, try spending some time with the principle of sufficient reason - by Sam Kimpton-Nye Read on Aeon
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Black men suffer racial trauma yet are seen as the threat
The very conditions that subject Black men to chronic strain make it hard for them to receive the help they need and deserve - by Yamonte Cooper Read on Psyche
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How to ignite your creativity
Turn a mistake into art, write your own postcard: crafty ideas to escape the doom-scroll and jumpstart your creative practice - Video by Struthless Watch on Psyche
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Barbara Ward’s vision
She was among the first to argue that prosperity, equality and the protection of nature are inseparable planetary goals - by Or Rosenboim Read on Aeon
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Why moving on after a breakup makes you a better person
They say time heals a broken heart. But do the hard work of moving on, and you do more than heal – you improve yourself - by Matthew Barnfield Read on Psyche
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Evolution of Manhattan
From Lenape land to sprawling metropolis, this detailed timelapse animation captures the making of Manhattan - by Aeon Video Watch on Aeon
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The ghetto on the lagoon
Sixteenth-century Venice wanted to expel its Jews but couldn’t do without them. Its compromise was the world’s first ghetto - by Alexander Lee Read on Aeon
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Tuesdays with the guys
In the wake of an unexpected tragedy, I decided to rethink my male friendships - by Rajeev Balasubramanyam Read on Psyche
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Paul Carus’ The History of the Devil and the Idea of Evil (1899)
A history of the Evil One, from the earliest times to the present.
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I won’t remain alone
In the wake of tragedy, an elderly couple must make a choice: should they let their son go to save the lives of others? - by Aeon Video Watch on Aeon
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Want to be a lifelong learner? Don’t go it alone
The history of autodidacticism shows that learning has always been social. The right relationships open intellectual horizons - by Celine Nguyen Read on Psyche
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The Alchemical Transformations of the Mutus Liber (1677)
Carl Jung’s copy of the “mute book”, an alchemical manual charting (through a series of images) the “humid way” of forging the Philosopher’s Stone.
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How to assemble science
Humanity produces a staggering amount of new knowledge every day. The question is how to make sense of it all - by Helen Pearson Read on Aeon
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A psychological guide to climbing out of debt
Debt is as much an emotional challenge as a financial one. Follow this therapist’s advice to create a plan that works - by Vicky Reynal Read on Psyche
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All-around junior male
A ball suspended in mid-air meets an athlete’s determination: in the one-foot high kick, competitors must defy gravity - by Aeon Video Watch on Aeon
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Philip Sidney and the Extreme (Dis)graces of the Parenthesis
Erasmus called them “little moons” and George Puttenham praised them as “figures of tolerable disorder” (if used not too often “nor too thick”). For Philip Sidney, they were simply indispensable. Florence Hazrat introduces us to the…
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“There is Nothing but Immortality!”: Walt Whitman and The Book of Heavenly Death (1905)
Choice excerpts from *Leaves of Grass* that speak to Whitman’s conception of immortality.
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Anatomy Unzipped: John of Arderne’s Sweden Scroll (ca. 1425–35)
Early surgical diagrams that present patients prying themselves open for our anatomical gaze.
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In Company Style: Illustrations from James Skinner’s Kitāb-i tashrīḥ al-aqvām (1825)
An illuminated Persian manuscript about customs, culture, and caste, written by an enigmatic figure of the early British Raj.
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Veronese's Dogs
“Oh, if I could only pray”, Luther once said of his dog Tölpel, “the way this dog watches the meat”. Attending to attentive canine figures in half a dozen paintings by Paolo Veronese, Thomas W. Laqueur explores the work of an artist whose…
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It’s “A Cat-astrophe”! (1919)
“A Cat-astrophe” came on the tail end of an odd 1918 boom in cat-themed music.
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Metamorphosis: Transformations in the Early Modern Flap Book (early 19th century)
By manipulating paper flaps, the child could turn Adam into Eve into a mermaid, a lion into a griffin into an eagle — all while learning about the inevitability of death.
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The Ties that Bind: Central Asian Ikat (ca. 19th century)
Vibrant textiles from the dazzling Timurid metropolis of Bukhara.
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Artificial Intelligence: Ars Notoria and the Promise of Instant Knowledge
Centuries before Neo instantly mastered Kung Fu in *The Matrix*, medieval scholars found a shortcut to years of difficult study: a magical manuscript that promised to fast-track advanced learning. Anne Lawrence-Mathers investigates the…