Largest study of links between consumption of the beverage and gut diversity finds coffee-loving bacteria.
Chemistry of the planet’s atmosphere suggests that its interior has never held water.
Artefacts from a Mesopotamian archaeological site suggest that people in the region founded and later rejected an early form of the organized state.
Times Literary Supplement (December 11, 2024): The latest issue features ‘The tragic Queen of France’ – The legend of Marie Antoinette; William Dalrymple’s Indian empire; Mary Beard – A night at the museum; The coffee house scientist; What Kindle readers want…
by Rick Lewis
Lost Hegel lecture notes now being digitized • Professor Ted Honderich dead at 91 — News reports by Anja Steinbauer
Seán Radcliffe asks, has Plato’s Allegory of the Cave been warning us of social media for 2,400 years?
Rosemary Twomey questions our online epistemology.
Amrit Pathak gives us a run-down of the foundations of modern atheism.
Andrew Likoudis questions the basis of some popular atheist arguments.
Zdeněk Petráček looks at the biggest problem facing monotheism.
Philip Goff grasps hold of the problem of evil and comes up with a novel solution.
Mohsen Moghri gives a Godless but principled response to the problem of evil.
Musa Mumtaz meditates on two maverick medieval Muslim metaphysicians.
Ignacio Gonzalez-Martinez has a flash of inspiration about the role metaphors play in creative thought.
Shashwat Mishra explores the limits of perception via the Molyneux problem.
Jimmy Alfonso Licon wonders whether pretending there’s a Santa is naughty or nice.
John P. Irish travels the path of a revolutionary mind.
Each answer below receives a random book. Apologies to the entrants not included.
Robert Stern talks with AmirAli Maleki about philosophy in general, and Kant and Hegel in particular.
Thoughts on Thoughts on Thoughts • Get Smarter • Decoding A Decoding • A Swift Rebuttal • Basic Arithmetic • A Message on Meaning
by Terence Green
by Matt Qvortrup
Raymond Tallis kicks immaterialism into touch.
Massimo Pigliucci tells us how to avoid becoming irate.
T.W.J Moxham reads Slavoj Žižek’s little book of Hegelian horrors.
Christopher John Searle recommends a study of which moves are allowed in logical arguments.
Becky Lee Meadows considers questions of guilt, innocence, and despair in this classic Christmas movie.
Country Life Magazine (December 10, 2024): The latest issue features ‘The Christmas Double Issue’…
The Revd Dr Colin Heber-Percy considers the Christmas story told in familiar rituals
Frost casts a garden’s structure into sharp relief. Tiffany Daneff enters a sparkling world
The Dean of St Albans chooses a canvas full of uplifting light for dark times
Kate Green pays tribute to Dame Ninette de Valois, the ‘godmother of ballet’
In the first of two articles, John Goodall traces the saintly history of the ancient abbey church of St Albans, Hertfordshire
The feisty robin is the undisputed avian king of Christmas. Mark Cocker wonders why
From weaving wreaths to corralling choristers, the work is ramping up for country people, who talk to Kate Green and Paula Lester
Catriona Gray meets the artists capturing Nature’s beauty in gold
Stop and listen to Nature’s voice, urges John Lewis-Stempel
Hanging treasured decorations is all part of the magic. Matthew Dennison opens the bauble box
Deborah Nicholls-Lee dares to unveil the mysterious figure
Take on our quizmaster — and, more importantly, your family and friends
Melanie Cable-Alexander buckles up for riotous country-house-corridor games
Harry Pearson takes over the world with the classic board game
Jonathan Self chortles at British comedy
The spirit of Christmas works its magic on a curmudgeonly baronet in Kate Green’s tale
Natural scents win for Arabella Youens
The sheep and its patient guardians have long delighted artists, finds Michael Prodger
Knitting, diamonds and Giles Coren’s treats
Is the perfect rural habitation real, wonders John Lewis-Stempel
Modern mince pies are but pale shadows of the past, believes Neil Buttery
Who can resist a roastie? Not Emma Hughes, nor anyone else in their right mind
Melanie Johnson builds a gingerbread house
Glazed and succulent, the Christmas ham is the king of the feast for Tom Parker Bowles
Give wine time to age, urges Harry Eyres
John Lewis-Stempel gathers in the holly, once divine diadem, now a cow’s Christmas feast
Labour’s family-farm tax will mean ruin for a beleaguered sector, says Minette Batters
Sam Leith opens the well-worn covers of the childhood books we will always cherish
From frogs to rat armies, the natural world has inspired countless ballets. Laura Parker straps on her pointe shoes for the bunny hop
Michael Billington awards his accolades to the stars — and the scourges — of the stage
Operas with food and wine may be rousing, but there are perils, warns Henrietta Bredin
Country Life reviewers select their top books
Lawmakers have toppled the government for the first time since 1962. How did we get here? By Lauren Collins
Two political newcomers have arrived to slash big government, but so far the project seems less revolutionary than advertised.
THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE (December 7 2024): The 12.8.24 Issue features William Langewiesche on the secret Pentagon war game how nuclear escalation spirals out of control; Daniel Bergner on a mysterious gap in psychosis rates; Alexis Okeowo on an endless war in Ethiopia; and more.
The devastating outcome of the 1983 game reveals that nuclear escalation inevitably spirals out of control.
The Academy Award-winning actress discusses her lifelong quest for connection, humanity’s innate goodness and the point of being alive.
A rare look inside a region still reckoning with the toll of war crimes, even as new conflicts roil the nation. By Alexis Okeowo
Black Americans experience schizophrenia and related disorders at twice the rate of white Americans. It’s a disparity that has parallels in other cultures. By Daniel Bergner
BARRON’S MAGAZINE (December 7, 2024): The latest issue features ‘The Bull Case for Investing Abroad’…
Investing abroad has been a tough sell, but overseas markets offer growth—and value.
Investors effectively are paying nearly $240,000 for each of the company’s 402,100 Bitcoins, well above the market price.
People can avoid messy family fights by preparing a will. It needn’t be a complicated document.
Rising prices are here to stay. Use these investments to beat the inflation trap.Long read
Johns Hopkins Magazine (December 6, 2024): Microplastics are among and in us; meet opera composer and hitmaker Kevin Puts; the science of seeing faces in nature; addressing the epidemic of eatings disorders in America, and more…
Next to opioid use disorder, anorexia is the most deadly mental health illness. In all, 5% of patients will die within the first four years of diagnosis as a result of heart failure, organ shutdown, low blood sugar, or suicide. The Eating Disorders Coalition reports that every 52 minutes, at least one person loses their life as a direct result of an eating disorder.
Maya Dizack, BSPH ’24 (ScM), set out years ago on a journey down the Mississippi River to see how widespread microplastics were in this major body of water. Her findings were more alarming than expected. But just how concerned
Boomers Daily 