The diverse relationships between slaves and masters were governed by kindness, betrayal, trust, and cruelty. A new Electronic Field Trip, “Harsh World, This World” examines the complex familiarity of slavery.

Waterloo, Ontario : Wilfrid Laurier University Press, [2019]

To relieve itch and pain without undesirable side effects, chemists put a kill switch on capsaicin

In the museum, RBI's history is shown in panels that illuminate while moving on a rotating table, and begins with the commencement of RBI in 1934 and ends with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's famous speech on November 8, 2016 announcing demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 notes.

Our cultural values are making us sad: money, mortality, and fear of missing out.

In a video chat last night, a friend admitted, “I’ve been crying a lot, and I’m not sure why.” COVID-19 has given us many reasons to weep. We’re out of our routines, the stock market has plunged, and we imagine millions dying. This virus and economic crisis punch us squarely where our spiritual armor is weakest: mortality, money, and our fear of missing out.

In 2 Corinthians 7, Paul distinguishes between two kinds of sorrow—a sorrow that “leads to death,” and a “godly sorrow.” The latter “brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret” (v. 10). Godly sorrow, he writes, produces “earnestness,” eagerness to repent, and a “longing” and “readiness to see justice done” (v. 11). The question the church faces now is which kind of sorrow COVID-19 will bring.

We are in the midst of the most widespread societal upheaval that many people alive today have ever experienced. Already our institutions, habits, relationships, and culture are shifting before our eyes. Frank M. Snowden, author of Epidemics and Society, shared with the New Yorker, “Epidemics are a category of disease that seem to hold up the mirror to human beings as to who we really are.” The question we are facing is not whether we will experience sorrow and change; the question is how. As biblical prophets walked with people through catastrophes, their advice was never to just endure until it ends. Instead they focused on proactively changing relationships with each other and with God.

As a cultural anthropologist who grew up in a middle-class white United States home and then lived for much of my adult life in Nicaragua, China, and South Africa, ...

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Benson, Jill

​​Developed countries may well ask why they should pick up the bill for countries that are less well-prepared. The answer to that lies in looking to their own citizens for inspiration. Across the world, governments have introduced new restrictions into lives.

Mediamatic ETEN, a restaurant in Amsterdam, is offering a four-course vegetarian menu for diners -- served to guests while they sit in their own personal quarantine greenhouses.

Joginder Tuteja looks at the new release schedule for actress next year.

Joginder Tuteja looks at the new release schedule for male actors for the next year.