In 2019, China commemorated several anniversaries of politically significant events in its recent history: the May Fourth Movement (100 years), the foundation of the People’s Republic of China (70 years), the Tibet Uprising (60 years), the beginning of the reform and opening policy (40 years), and the massacre on Tiananmen Square (30 years). How China … Continue reading China’s Guided Memory – SWP
Artificial atoms create stable qubits | Cosmos
Australian research an important step in quest for silicon quantum computer. — Read on cosmosmagazine.com/physics/artificial-atoms-create-stable-qubits
Why Do We Laugh? – Scientific American
Laughter clearly serves a social function. It is a way for us to signal to another person that we wish to connect with them. In fact, in a study of thousands of examples of laughter, the speakers in a conversation were found to be 46 percent more likely to laugh than the listeners. We’re also … Continue reading Why Do We Laugh? – Scientific American
The Perils of “Survivorship Bias” – Scientific American
An aspiring entrepreneur could be forgiven for thinking that dropping out of college to start a company is the key to success. After all, it worked beautifully for Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. These business moguls’ well-known stories give the impression that to become a triumph in business, all you need is a … Continue reading The Perils of “Survivorship Bias” – Scientific American
Feral Dogs Respond to Human Hand Cues – Scientific American
Most feral dogs that did not run away from humans were able to respond to hand cues about the location of food—even without training. — Read on http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/feral-dogs-respond-to-human-hand-cues/
Slum Wolf – New York Review Books
Tadao Tsuge is one of the pioneers of alternative manga, and one of the world’s great artists of the down-and-out. Slum Wolf is a new selection of his stories from the late Sixties and Seventies, never before available in English: a vision of Japan as a world of bleary bars and rundown flophouses, vicious street … Continue reading Slum Wolf – New York Review Books
The Man Without Talent – New York Review Books
Yoshiharu Tsuge is one of the most celebrated and influential comics artists, but his work has been almost entirely unavailable to English-speaking audiences. The Man Without Talent, his first book to be translated into English, is an unforgiving self-portrait of frustration. Swearing off cartooning as a profession, Tsuge takes on a series of unconventional jobs—used-camera … Continue reading The Man Without Talent – New York Review Books
From Big Bang to cosmic bounce: an astronomical journey through space and time
Brian Greene’s Until the End of Time sits within a tradition of grand, synoptic visions of the Universe, rooted in physics, that feels (to this British reader) distinctively American. Halfway through, I realized why. With its scepticism of religion but openness to humanistic wonder, awe of nature, celebration of the individual and recognition of the … Continue reading From Big Bang to cosmic bounce: an astronomical journey through space and time
An interview with authors of Lost Maps of the Caliphs: A meticulous book about an extraordinary Fatimid manuscript illustrating the heavens and the earth as was known in 11th century Cairo « Simerg – Insights from Around the World
An enlightening interview with authors of "Lost Maps of the Caliphs," a book about an amazing Fatimid manuscript that maps the heavens and the earth. The manuscript surfaced in the year 2000, and was acquired by Oxford's Bodleian Library. — Read on simerg.com/2020/01/26/an-insightful-interview-with-authors-of-lost-maps-of-the-caliphs-a-work-on-an-amazing-fatimid-treatise-which-provides-a-view-of-the-heavens-and-the-earth-as-was-known-in-11th-century-cair/
The Light of Asia: Western encounters with Buddhism – Asian and African studies blog
Although there was widespread knowledge in medieval Europe of the legend of Barlaam and Josaphat, about an extraordinary prince in India who renounced the world, direct encounters of Europeans with Buddhism only took place from the thirteenth century onwards. Accounts of merchants, explorers and missionaries like those of the Franciscan friar Willem van Ruysbroeck (c. … Continue reading The Light of Asia: Western encounters with Buddhism – Asian and African studies blog
