After bungling the 1890 census in San Francisco, economist Carl Plehn was tapped to run the Red Cross’s registration department in the wake of the city’s tragic earthquake. By: Megan Finn On April 18, 1906, a magnitude 8.0 earthquake shook buildings in San Francisco to the ground, breaking many of…

Lin Yutang’s MingKwai typewriter is perhaps the most well-known — and most poorly understood — Chinese typewriter in history. By: Thomas Mullaney “We learn with mingled emotions — transcending dismay and yet appreciably milder than despair — that Dr. Lin Yutang, our favorite oriental author … has invented a Chinese…

If certain areas of science appear to be quite mature, others are in the process of development, and yet others remain to be born. By: Santiago Ramón y Cajal Here is a false concept often heard from the lips of the newly graduated: “Everything of major importance in the various…

Where you stand when you talk to someone is reflexive and varies widely depending on your culture. By: Roger Kreuz & Richard Roberts It happens so naturally that most people never even think about it, but the amount of space that they maintain between each other is not random. It…

Dreidel isn’t just a game of simple luck; it’s a practical lesson in discovering the value of fairness both to oneself and to others. By: Eric Schwitzgebel Superficially, dreidel looks like a simple game of luck, and a badly designed game at that. It lacks balance, clarity, and meaningful strategic…

The platform is taking care of the problem of meaning in life by getting rid of any time to wonder. By: Robert Simanowski What is easier than criticizing Facebook? It takes gossip for friendship, voyeurism for solidarity, and trivia for information. It has industrialized sharing and generates huge revenues from…

Urbanization and the spread of artificial light are transforming life for all of earth’s species, bringing about a host of unintended consequences. By Christopher Preston In 1800, only two percent of the human population lived in cities. A century later, that portion grew to 15 percent. Then, sometime in 2007…