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100 Years of Male Pop Stars | Vanity Fair

Adults History
How have music icons changed over the last century? We look at how the styles of male icons have evolved over the years, from Duke Ellington and Bing Crosby to Michael Jackson and Prince.

Why Socrates Hated Democracy

Adults History
We're used to thinking hugely well of democracy. But interestingly, one of the wisest people who ever lived, Socrates, had deep suspicions of it.

The world's most mysterious book - Stephen Bax

Adults History
Deep inside Yale's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library lies a 240 page tome. Recently carbon dated to around 1420, its pages feature looping handwriting and hand drawn images seemingly stolen from a dream. It is called the Voynich manuscript, and it's one of history's biggest unsolved mysteries. The reason why? No one can figure out what it says. Stephen Bax investigates this cryptic work.

Why people never smiled in old photos

Adults History
Early portraits looked pretty grim. A lot of old photos from the 19th and early 20th century are fraught with doom and gloom-and on the occasion the literal dead face. That led to the popular belief that people just did not smile in old photographs. The common explanation is due to the limited technology at the time to capture a smile. Exposure times were long and the thinking was it's easier to hold a serious expression over a long period. Another theory included early photography being heavily influenced by painting (which meant no smiling).

Vincent van Gogh's long, miserable road to fame

Adults History
Van Gogh's travels informed the works we revere today.

LITERATURE - George Orwell

Adults History
George Orwell is the most famous English language writer of the 20th century, the author of Animal Farm and 1984. What was he trying to tell us and what is his genius?

How ancient Romans made stronger concrete than today

Adults History
Many structures built by ancient Romans around 2,000 years ago are still standing, and some are still in excellent condition. Over the last decade, researchers have come discover the Romans' secret concrete recipe that has maintained so many of its now-ancient buildings.

How the Pyramids Were Built (Pyramid Science Part 2!)

Adults History
Just because something is difficult doesn't mean it's impossible. Over the past centuries, archaeologists, historians, and engineers have reconstructed a great deal of the technology and science used to build the Egyptian pyramids. This week we look at ancient Egyptian mathematics, building techniques, tools, and culture to reconstruct the Great Pyramid's construction.

Where did English come from? - Claire Bowern

Adults History
When we talk about 'English', we often think of it as a single language. But what do the dialects spoken in dozens of countries around the world have in common with each other, or with the writings of Chaucer? Claire Bowern traces the language from the present day back to its ancient roots, showing how English has evolved through generations of speakers.

LITERATURE - Charles Dickens

Adults History
Charles Dickens was one of the most popular writers in English in the 19th century. He deserves our attention for his ideas about sympathy, popularity and happiness.

Neighbours: Explaining Canada Day to America

Adults History
Happy Canada Day!

How to use rhetoric to get what you want - Camille A. Langston

Adults History
How do you get what you want, using just your words? Aristotle set out to answer exactly that question over two thousand years ago with a treatise on rhetoric. Camille A. Langston describes the fundamentals of deliberative rhetoric and shares some tips for appealing to an audience's ethos, logos, and pathos in your next speech.

Decoding the ancient astronomy of Stonehenge

Adults History
The solstice alignments of Stonehenge, explained.

The philosophy of Stoicism - Massimo Pigliucci

Adults History
What is the best life we can live? How can we cope with whatever the universe throws at us and keep thriving nonetheless? The ancient Greco-Roman philosophy of Stoicism explains that while we may not always have control over the events affecting us, we can have control over how we approach things. Massimo Pigliucci describes the philosophy of Stoicism.

What can you learn from ancient skeletons? - Farnaz Khatibi

Adults History
Ancient skeletons can tell us a great deal about the past, including the age, gender and even the social status of its former owner. But how can we know all of these details simply by examining some old, soil-caked bones? Farnaz Khatibi examines a fascinating branch of science known as biological anthropology.

This Famous Tongue Twister Is Actually About Dinosaurs

Adults History
"She sells seashells by the seashore" isn't the whole story.

The ferocious predatory dinosaurs of Cretaceous Sahara - Nizar Ibrahim

Adults History
In Cretaceous times (around 100 million years ago), North Africa was home to a huge river system and a bizarre menagerie of giant prehistoric predators -- including the Spinosaurus, a dinosaur even more fearsome than the Tyrannosaurus rex. Nizar Ibrahim uses paleontological and geological data to reconstruct this "River of Giants" in surprising detail.