Nature’s Evolving Tastes
“The wholesale murders going [on] now in Paris are heartrending.” Charles Darwin received this news in a letter from the paleontologist Vladimir Kovalevsky, dated May 28,...
In the Fire
The Egyptian writer, doctor, and agitator Nawal El Saadawi passed away in Cairo on March 21, 2021, at the age of eighty-nine. Despite decades of threats,...
What Does the Microbiome Do?
We live life with companions. Some, like parents, are present from our moment of birth; others are met at school or work and become friends or...
Hollywood’s Master Builder
Revisions of the modern architectural canon have been going on for almost as long as modern architecture itself. But our perceptions of what constitutes excellence in...
The CCP’s Culture of Fear
Roughly two thousand years ago, the arrival in China of Buddhism from India brought major changes not only to China’s belief systems but to many aspects...
‘Who Designs Your Race?’
In 1925 the Mexican philosopher, writer, and former education minister José Vasconcelos published an essay that was as consequential as it was absurd. “La raza cósmica”...
The More Fraught the Better
What is the nature of the relationship between music and words, whether in opera, song, or any other art form that brings them together? Are they...
They Ask Me
why the newflawless birdswired to perfectionwhose beauty song flight lifthover settle youcannot tell fromthose not coming back are not thesame, whosefeathertips shineas if in the old...
Book Riot’s Deals of the Day for September 30, 2021
Today’s edition of Daily Deals is sponsored by Today’s Featured Deals $3.99 The Five by Hallie Rubenhold Get This Deal $0.99 The Accidental Alchemist by Gigi...
