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350 articles · page 11 of 15
The Farmers' Parade of History
A The development of agriculture — the deliberate cultivation of plants and the domestication of animals for food, fibre, and labour — is conventionally described as the …
The Flavour Industry
The Flavour Industry How a multi-billion-dollar industry creates the tastes that define modern processed food — and the science and controversy behind it A. The flavour i…
The Fluoridation Controversy
The Fluoridation Controversy The decades-long debate over adding fluoride to public water supplies — and what the evidence really shows A. The addition of fluoride to pub…
The Gender Gap in New Zealand's High School Examination Results
Results from New Zealand's new national examinations for secondary schools are giving that country some cause for concern A. The issue is the difference in pass rates bet…
The Globemakers: The Curious Story of an Ancient Craft
A review of Peter Bellerby's book The Globemakers In 2008, Peter Bellerby, who lived in London, wanted to give his father a model globe for his eightieth birthday. What s…
The Hidden Lives of Solitary Bees
The Hidden Lives of Solitary Bees Beyond the honeybee — how the world's most diverse group of pollinators lives, and why their survival matters A. When most people think …
The History of Dolls
The doll is one of the oldest and most universal of all human artefacts. Carved, modelled, stitched, or cast figures representing the human form have been found in archae…
The History of Rubber
The History of Rubber F ew natural materials have shaped modern civilisation as profoundly as rubber, yet its early history is largely unknown to those who depend on it d…
The History of the Celtic Language
A. In November 1897, in a field near the village of Coligny in eastern France, a local inhabitant unearthed two strange objects. One was an imposing statue of Mars, the R…
The History of the Chicken
The story begins 10,000 years ago in a jungle in Asia and ends today in kitchens all over the world. Chicken is the universal food of our era, crossing cultural boundarie…
The History of the Invention of Plastics
The History of the Invention of Plastics How a series of nineteenth- and twentieth-century discoveries created the material that defines our age — and the problem that no…
The History of the Motor Car
The History of the Motor Car he motor car is so embedded in modern life that the world it has created — sprawling suburbs, motorway networks, retail parks, drive-through …
The Iceman
A. It was late spring or early summer. The man hurried through a forest he knew well, wincing from the pain in his injured right hand and pausing occasionally to listen f…
The Importance of Business Cards
A. The ritual may be universal, but the details of business cards and how they are swapped vary across countries. Americans throw their cards casually across a table; the…
The Importance of Business Cards
The exchanging of business cards is a close to a universal ritual as you can find in the business world The ritual may be universal, but the business cards and how they a…
The Importance of Law
The law influences all of us virtually all the time, governing almost all aspects of our behaviour A The law influences all of us virtually all the time. It governs almos…
The Life of Louis Braille
Teacher and advocate for the blind, Louis Braille designed the coding system, based on raised dots, by which the blind can read through touch. Louis Braille was born in C…
The Mpemba Effect
The Mpemba Effect Why hot water sometimes freezes faster than cold — and what this puzzle reveals about the nature of scientific knowledge he Mpemba effect — the observat…
The Nagymaros Dam
A. The Gabcikovo-Nagymaros Project was a joint hydroelectric and navigation scheme agreed between Hungary and Czechoslovakia in 1977 under the auspices of the Council for…
The Origin and Development of Applause
Whether you clap, cheer or whistle a great public performance, you are following a long tradition. Scholars aren’t quite sure about the origins of applause, but the form …
The Origin of Ancient Writing
A. The Sumerians, an ancient people of the Middle East, had a story explaining the invention of writing more than 5,000 years ago. It seems a messenger of the King of Uru…
The Origin of Language
Theories on the origin and evolution of language have been a major area of my research for many years. By 1859, when British scientist Charles Darwin published The Origin…
The Origin of Paper
A. The word paper derives from the Greek term for the ancient Egyptian writing material called papyrus. In about 2400 BC, the Egyptians discovered how to make a writing s…
The Origins of Tennis
A. The game of tennis has a very long history. It is officially still known as “lawn tennis,” partly because it was originally only played on grass, and also to distingui…