cultural

Jay Stephens (right) collects samples of copper ore from a mine in Africa. Credit: Jay Stephens Chemical and isotopic analysis of copper artifacts from southern Africa reveals new cultural connections among people living in the region between the 5th and 20th centuries according to a University of Missouri researcher and colleagues. …

The U2 guitarist on the scientific theory that connects us all, drawing on walls and the resurgence of Irish folk musicDavid Howell Evans, better known as U2 guitarist The Edge, was born in Barking, east London, in 1961 and grew up in Dublin. Since forming in 1976, U2 have released 14 studio albums including The Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby and All That You Can’t Leave Behind. They are one of the biggest-selling bands of all time, and have won 22 Grammy awards and seven Brit awards. Songs of Surrender, a collection of 40…

The singer-songwriter on the film that reminds her of her dad, artist Rene Matić’s ability to provoke and a documentary that sums up the life of an Arsenal fanBorn in Lambeth, south London, in 1998, singer-songwriter Joy Crookes started uploading cover versions of songs to YouTube aged 13. She released an EP in 2017 and was nominated for the rising star award at the 2020 Brits. Her debut album, Skin, a collection of soulful R&B songs exploring relationships, her Bangladeshi-Irish heritage and the changing face of…

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain White sage, which is sacred to a number of Native American tribes in the southwest United States, has been adopted by both some contemporary Pagans and New Age practitioners for purification rites. As Emily McFarlan Miller reported in a recent Religion News Service article, this is resulting in overharvesting and shortages of the plant, making it harder for Native Americans to find enough for…

Born in Los Angeles in 1962, the musician Laura Elisse Salenger adopted the stage name Brix in honour of the Clash song The Guns of Brixton. After studying theatre and literature at Bennington College in Vermont, she moved to the UK, where she joined the Fall as guitarist and songwriter (and married lead singer Mark E Smith). In 2016 she published a memoir, The Rise, the Fall and the Rise, and she has appeared in films including Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie and Creation Stories. Smith’s debut solo album, Valley of the…

The singer and songwriter Hayley Williams was born in Mississippi in 1988. She signed her first music deal aged 14, shortly after moving to Tennessee, and went on to form the pop-punk band Paramore. The band have released five albums with Williams as lead vocalist and keyboard player, beginning in 2005 with All We Know Is Falling. In 2015, they won a Grammy for the song Ain’t It Fun. Williams, who now lives in Nashville, also performs solo and has released two albums since 2020. Paramore’s latest album, This Is Why, is…

The Communist party of China has an intrinsically fraught relationship with history, which it variously comprehends as a mirror (reflecting back uncomfortable truths) or war (a determined battle for ideological supremacy). But mostly, says Guardian journalist and former China correspondent Tania Branigan, the party views history as a tool. “It can be adjusted as necessary yet appears solid and immutable: today’s imperatives seem graven in stone, today’s facts the outcome of a logical, inexorable process. Life as it is…

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain It's good practice for employers to consult staff when forming policies or guidelines. However, for some staff from diverse backgrounds, this creates extra work and pressure. "Cultural load" in the context of the workplace is the invisible workload employers knowingly or unknowingly place on…

In the 1990s, something odd happened in Beijing’s burgeoning fine dining scene. Among the chic eateries, restaurants emerged with very simple dishes: meat and vegetables cooked in plain style with few frills. The diners were not there just for the cuisine, but to relive the experience of a period generally considered a disaster: the Cultural Revolution of 1966-76. The plain dishes were meant to invoke a time of restrained, austere living, when people thought of the collective rather than the individual. Only the sky-high…

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain People's cultural worldviews play a part in how they respond to wildfire risk, and should be taken into account in efforts to get homeowners to engage in pre-fire mitigation efforts such as adjusting landscaping and preparing an evacuation plan, an Oregon State University study found. The study…