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After 2,500 Years, a Ph.D. Student Has Solved an Ancient Grammatical Puzzle

Culture / 3 min. read

Outside of academia, many people have never heard of Pāṇini, the revered grammarian and scholar whom some experts refer to as “the father of linguistics.” A master of Sanskrit — a classical Indo-European language from South Asia, and the sacred and literary language of Hinduism — Pāṇini is thought to have produced his legendary treatise, […]

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What’s a “January,” Anyway? A Brief Guide to the Origins of Each Month’s Name

Culture / 4 min. read

Have you ever stopped to wonder how the first month of the year came to be called “January,” or where the other months’ names, from “February” through “December,” actually originated? In case the start of another trip around the sun has you curious, here’s a brief overview of how we arrived at our present-day calendar system.

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Close up white paper desk calendar

A Nevada State Park May Have Been Birthing Grounds for Giant Extinct Marine Reptiles, Study Suggests

Culture / 3 min. read

In the middle of Nevada’s vast desert there’s a 200-million-year-old rich fossil bed, where many  “school bus-sized” ichthyosaurs are petrified in stone.  The remains of these 50-foot-long, ancient marine reptiles (Shonisaurus popularis) have been found over the course of half a century, but the findings have perplexed paleontologists since their discovery — specifically why their

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an illustration of live ichthyosaurs swimming underwater

Hidden Self-Portrait of Vincent Van Gogh Discovered Behind Painting 

Culture / 2 min. read

More than a century after his death, Vincent Van Gogh is continuing to delight art enthusiasts with new masterpieces. Experts at the National Galleries of Scotland discovered a never-before-seen self-portrait of the late artist while X-raying another of Van Gogh’s paintings, “Head of a Peasant Woman,” before putting it on display.  When “Head of a

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a conservator sits with "Head of a Peasant Woman," the van Gogh painting behind which a hidden self-portrait was discovered. An X-ray image of the self-portrait is displayed on a screen next to her.

From a Rare Solar Eclipse to the Women’s World Cup: 14 Things to Look Forward to in 2023

Culture / 8 min. read

The last few years have yielded plenty of challenges: political and financial unrest, the COVID-19 pandemic, poverty, habitat loss, and the effects of warming temperatures due to climate change, to name but a few. But there’s still plenty of good in the world, from small and simple pleasures to larger advancements offering collective hope for

From a Rare Solar Eclipse to the Women’s World Cup: 14 Things to Look Forward to in 2023 Continue Reading »

LYON, FRANCE - JULY 07: Megan Rapinoe #15 of USA and Team USA celebrate the victory of the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup France Final match between The United States of America and The Netherlands at Stade de Lyon on July 7, 2019 in Lyon, France.

Previously Unknown Imperial Roman City Uncovered at Foot of Pyrenees Mountains

Culture / 2 min. read

Archaeologists have confirmed that ruins located on the southern slopes of the Pyrenees mountain range in Spain once formed a massive imperial Roman city with its own infrastructure, water supply system, sewers, public monuments, and possibly a temple.  Experts wrote in a report that the Roman city was “of urban character” and featured “buildings of

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Mountain ridge at the Spanish Pyrenees seen from Panticosa, Huesca, Alto Gallego, Aragon

“Auld Lang Syne”: Behind the History of the Song and Why We Sing It on New Year’s Eve

Culture / 3 min. read

The song “Auld Lang Syne” is all but inescapable on the night of December 31, indelibly intertwined with New Year’s celebrations in many English-speaking countries. But where did it come from, and what does it mean? The phrase “Auld Lang Syne” is from the 18th-century Scots language, and translates to “old long since,” or more

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The original letter featuring the lyrics of "Auld Lang Syne" by the hand writing of Scottish poet Robert Burns is on display at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York, December 9, 2011. The letter, written in 1793 by Burns to his’ publisher George Thomson, is the song that at the stroke of midnight at the New Year, millions of people around the globe belt out, making it the most widely recognized song on the planet after “Happy Birthday”.

Inside the History of Santa’s Reindeer and How They Got Their Names

Culture / 3 min. read

It’s hard to imagine Santa Claus without his nine flying reindeer. But although the real-life St. Nicholas’ roots date back to the fourth century and Greco-Roman Lycia, the notion of the legendary character’s sleigh, and the magical creatures that drive it, is relatively new. The first mention of a sleigh as Santa’s mode of transport

Inside the History of Santa’s Reindeer and How They Got Their Names Continue Reading »

Reindeer standing in snow in winter landscape of Finnish Lapland, Finland
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