Anthropology

Policy makers and amateur psychology pundits think "necessity is the mother of invention" - and sometimes it is, that is why that became a saying, but plain old opportunity matters a lot. Natural gas…

If you're a native of rural Mozambique who contracts a disease and becomes symptomatic, you'll likely consult a traditional healer before getting medical advice. It's easy to dismiss that thinking as…

The need for a moral higher power may have been as necessary for adapting to a dangerous world as physical adaptations, according to a new paper. The authors suggest that societies with less access…

Neigh problem with injections. Shutterstock By Adele Williams, University of Surrey Picture this. Your prize horse needs a vaccination. Who should turn up to deliver this but a veterinary graduate of…

If you lived in Hilazon Tachtit, near  the Hilazon river of Israel 12,000 years ago, you might have borne witness to a world first; the earliest known religious ceremony. The Natufian people had…

Baron Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron, with other members of his unit. Credit: Germany Army. By Ingrid Sharp, University of Leeds The idea of a war hero is still strong in the UK and in the…

The Slave Trade painted by a French abolitionist artist. By Daina Ramey Berry, University of Texas People think they know everything about slavery in the United States, but they don’t. They think…

Ancient Greeks used onions as a performance-enhancing drug. Roman gladiators ate ashes and vegetables. If common-sense does not tell us that there was no ancient civilization with futuristic…

It is often believed that masculine men and more feminine women were prized in ancient societies and that modern culture is beyond gender simplifications, but a team of psychologists,…

Credit: EPA By Rob MacKenzie, University of Birmingham To exaggerate is human, and scientists are human. Exaggeration and the complementary art of simplification are the basic rhetorical tools of…