TED’s archive is a graveyard of ideas. It is a seemingly endless index of stories about the future — the future of science, the future of the environment, the future of work, the future of love and sex, the future of what it means to be human — that never materialized… Bill Gates wheels a… Read More OSCAR SCHWARTZ: What Was the TED Talk?
It’s been 27 years since geologist David Roberts identified some of the oldest footprints of our species ever discovered. The trackway of three footprints was found on the surface of a cemented sand dune (called an aeolianite) near Langebaan on South Africa’s west coast. The tracks were later dated to 117,000 years and were attributed to Homo… Read More Charles Helm – Ancient human tracks on South Africa’s west coast: 3 reasons they are an exciting find
Journalist, photographer, author and professor Howard W. French’s Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War, is the most recent in a long career of thoughtful and significant literary and journalistic interventions. It demands an account of modernity that reckons with Africa as central to the… Read More Book review: how Africa was central to the making of the modern world
Like most humans, I want intimacy. But as a developmental psychologist, I consider intimacy a fundamental human need. Sharing feelings, embraces, intellectual conversations, sex – these intimate moments are often the touchstones of a rich human experience. Yet millions of people worldwide are isolated and lonely, woefully lacking in the meaningful and diverse social experiences that… Read More The age of intimacy famine: when we interact with our phones rather than our loved ones
Because of the impact it has already had and because its influence continues to grow, Tom Nairn’s The Break-Up of Britain, first published in 1977, is the most significant book on British politics of the past half-century, even though it is not a famous best-seller. Today, its republication by Verso signals the post-Brexit renewal of… Read More The Break-Up of Britain / The US today resembles the Soviet Union just before it fell
The farmers’ historic struggle and victory has upset not merely political arrogance but conventional wisdom in more than one way. It has shown the limitations of class analysis, and has thrown up new ideas for organizing peaceful protests in a democracy. The fact that relatively better-off farmers from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh often led the… Read More Amit Bhaduri: The Farmers’ Protest Exposed the Limitations of Class Analysis
Amidst the gloom of the coronavirus pandemic, one thing that has kept people going are random acts of kindness. One such act of kindness by a stranger was recently shared by a US teacher. Maria Iorlano, an educator from Brooklyn, New York was on her way to school with “arms full of classroom supplies and doughnuts” for… Read More ‘Sometimes angels do walk among us’: Teacher shares tale of stranger’s act of kindness
Investigative journalists Ronen Bergman and Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times (NYT) have revealed that the cyber-weapon Pegasus was part of a $2 billion defence package the Narendra Modi government purchased from Israel in 2017. A government minister has sought to dismiss it as a motivated conspiracy by calling the highly respected NYT, “supari” media, a… Read More Bharat Bhushan: Government as hacker / Proof of Pegasus use on phones, Cyber experts tell SC panel
Our board member Sravya Tadepalli moderated the briefing and opened with the words, “As a Hindu and part of a religious tradition that believes all human beings are inherently divine, I believe it is my religious duty to speak out when oppressed people face atrocities. As an Indian American, I feel a special obligation to… Read More Sunita Viswanath: Why is the Indian Media Erasing 'Hindus for Human Rights' from the Republic Day Story?
Remembering Mahatma Gandhi: उड जायेगा हंस अकेला / जग दर्शन का मेला ।। The Christian hymn has been played by the Massed Bands of the security forces every year since 1950 to mark the end of the Republic Day celebrations. Listen to some versions: https://scroll.in/video/1015930/abide-with-me-tm-krishna-artists-around-india-sing-the-hymn-dropped-from-beating-retreat-parade ‘Abide With Me’: Listen to the hymn that has been dropped from the Beating Retreat ceremony Two AV talks: The… Read More Remembering Mahatma Gandhi: उड जायेगा हंस अकेला / Abide with me: Gandhiji’s favourite hymn
After the truth-shower 