Why School Is Boring
The average student is bored about 1/3 of the time. But that might have more to do with the kids' temperaments than with school itself.
When Is Cooking Fun?
Is cooking a daily grind necessary to keep a family fed, or a fun hobby? The answers lies largely in how home cooks approach the tasks at hand.
How Second Wave Feminism Almost Killed Nursing
An expert wonders if the waning number of women interested in nursing was the unintended consequence of the women’s rights movement of the 1970’s.
When Communes Don’t Fail
Communes have gotten a reputation for being flaky or cultish. But intentional communities have a long history, and many have been successful.
The Divide in Feminist Ethics on Mothering
In the 1960s, two groups of feminists had very different views about motherhood. Unsurprisingly, race and family played a role.
The Man behind the “New Man”
Otto Weininger's only book, Sex & Character, is a misogynist, anti-Semitic screed masquerading as philosophy. Yet it was enormously influential in fin-de-siècle Vienna.
A Mesoamerican Ball Game Returns
An ancient ball game called Ulama is making a comeback in Mexico. What do we know about the earlier iteration of the game?
What Sports Reveal about Society
Sociologists find that sports are inextricably intertwined with the people, countries, and politics surrounding them.
Sociophysics and Econophysics, the Future of Social Science?
Can empirical data about human behavior make the “soft” sciences more like the “hard” ones? New interdisciplinary fields are voting yes.
Why Europe’s Oldest Intact Book Was Found in a Saint’s Coffin
The St. Cuthbert Gospel is the earliest surviving intact European book. Some time around 698, it was slipped into the coffin of a saint.