What she proposes, in papers with Dr. Oxenham and in a dissertation in progress, is a standard four-stage method for studying ancient remains of disabled or ill individuals with an eye to understanding their societies. >>Read More

In the Economist’s World in 2013 issue there is an article, The Cycle of History (thanks to John McGonagle for bringing it to my attention). The author, Max Rodenbeck, discusses the recent events of the Arab Spring from the point of view of Ibn Khaldun’s theory. >>Read More

Rituals bind us, in modern societies and prehistoric tribes alike. But can our loyalties stretch to all of humankind? >>Read More

Instead I believe that culture is the key. Humans are much better at learning from each other than any other animal. This ability allows human populations to gradually accumulate knowledge over generations that no individual human could invent alone. >>Read More

Robert Cialdini is an emeritus psychologist at Arizona State University who studies how our behavior is affected by social rules that we're only vaguely aware of but which have incredible power over what we do. >>Read More

ONE of the most significant phenomena of modern history is the demographic transition: as people get richer, they have smaller families. This slowing of reproduction with economic development is the reason why Thomas Malthus’s prediction of disaster, caused by the human population outstripping its supply of food, is unlikely ever to come true. >>Read More

This story of the Nien Rebellion foreshadows one of the biggest issues that China will face in coming decades: the dramatic excess of young men. >>Read More