Cafe History

Why does February only get 28 days when all the other months get 30 or 31? The answer is part superstition, part politics, and parts astronomy.

As more and more parents are choosing not to vaccinate their children or are vaccinating them later, diseases like measles are making a comeback. Are vaccines safe? How do they work? This week we look at why are people afraid of something that has saved so many lives, and look at the history and science of vaccines.

Over the course of human history, thousands of languages have developed from what was once a much smaller number. How did we end up with so many? And how do we keep track of them all? Alex Gendler explains how linguists group languages into language families, demonstrating how these linguistic trees give us crucial insights into the past.

The ubiquitous yin-yang symbol holds its roots in Taoism/Daoism, a Chinese religion and philosophy. The yin, the dark swirl, is associated with shadows, femininity, and the trough of a wave; the yang, the light swirl, represents brightness, passion and growth. John Bellaimey explains why we all contain the spirit of yin and of yang -- and how we can achieve a balance of both in our lives.

How does evolution really work? Actually, not how some of our common evolutionary metaphors would have us believe. For instance, it's species, not individual organisms, that adapt to produce evolution, and genes don't "want" to be passed on -- a gene can't want anything at all! Alex Gendler sets the record straight on the finer points of evolution.

GE ??created a pop-up #EmojiScience ?lab in NYC , and has turned the Periodic Table of Elements into the ?Emoji Table of Experiments?.

The most common misconception about the pyramids is that they were built by slaves. Recent archeological evidence suggests they were instead constructed by paid workers. Some may have performed this work as a form of tax payment for several months of the year. Skilled engineers would have planned and orchestrated the building. An estimated 10,000-20,000 people would have been working on a pyramid at any one point in time. They were well fed and provided with shelter near the pyramids. Plus their burial sites close by indicate they were respected and were not slaves.

Greg Foot tries to dive into the topic of Evolution; looking at why monkeys exist, who our common ancestor is, and how we branched away to become a new species.

A misnomer is a word or term that suggests a meaning that is known to be wrong. Misnomers often arise because the thing named received its name long before its true nature was known. A misnomer may also be simply a word that is used incorrectly or misleadingly.

If you are a living, breathing human being, chances are you have felt sad at least a few times in your life. But what exactly is melancholy, and what (if anything) should we do about it? Courtney Stephens details our still-evolving understanding of sadness -- and even makes a case for its usefulness.

This is a short film about how my mom became the owner of a motorcycle for the My Rode Reel competition. More deeply it is about how people use objects to connect with times, ideas, and people.

Fossil fuels have powered human growth and ingenuity for centuries. Now that we're reaching the end of cheap and abundant oil and coal supplies, we're in for an exciting ride. While there's a real risk that we'll fall off a cliff, there's still time to control our transition to a post-carbon future.

Once a year on august 1st, the people of Warsaw pay hommage to the fallen heroes that fought for freedom in 1944 during the Warsaw Uprising. The biggest rebellion against German Nazi occupation during WWII cost over 200 000 lives and destruction of the capital.

Have you ever made a panorama? Cool! But, have you ever made a panorama consisting of 1920 photos??? No! Check out this little behind the scenes video for such a panorama in one of the most iconic places on earth - Machu Picchu in Peru. As you will see, you're not going to take this one hand-held, and there is a bit of paper work to be done you go there. Travel through the final photo here