Ancient History
Great Zimbabwe: Stone Ruins of a Civilization
By Professor Kenneth P. Vickery, North Carolina State University Welcome to Great Zimbabwe, a site that flourished in the late Iron Age—the late 1st millennium C.E.—in […]
Lecture Transcripts
Communication
The Japanese Language: Context Is Everything
Japanese language is highly contextual. It’s hard to know how to say something in Japanese unless you know the details of the social context. And that reflects a long-standing Japanese concern with order, with hierarchy, and with consensus. […]
Biology
The Balance between Predators and Prey
By Stephen Nowicki, PhD, Duke University The life-and-death balancing act between predator and prey is complicated and fascinating. Read about Ecologist Josh Van Buskirk’s classic […]
Islam
The Hajj: Pilgrimage to Mecca
By John L. Esposito, Ph.D, Georgetown University The Hajj is one of the five Pillars of Islam and is probably the most well-known among non-Muslims: the pilgrimage to […]
Literature
The Tale of Genji: Japan’s Greatest Novel
By Grant L. Voth, Ph.D., Monterey Peninsula College A pillar of the world literary canon, The Tale of Genji is considered to be the world’s […]
History
The Mongol Sack of Baghdad in 1258
By Eamonn Gearon, MA, Johns Hopkins University The Mongol conquest of the Abbasid Caliphate culminated in the horrific sack of Baghdad that effectively ended the Islamic […]
Communication
What is Linguistics?
A great many things about language that seem apparent, in fact, are quite otherwise upon examination, and this is what makes linguistics a fascinating field. […]
Cooking
Food for Thought: Cooking With Onions
Around the world, cooking with onions, or alliums, is a foundation in almost every cuisine. It’s been said “What garlic is to salads, insanity is to art.” […]
Health And Fitness
Malaria: The King of Tropical Diseases
By Anthony A. Goodman, M.D., Montana State University Malaria—a mosquito-borne infectious disease—is widespread in tropical and subtropical regions of Earth. One of a variety of tropical […]