Plight of a refugee
He was only seven when the war started. He used to spend his time “running around and playing with my mates,” and then one day, the houses in his town started burning down and neighbours would go missing. His parents told him to stay indoors.
Vitamins, explained from A to K
We all know that vitamins are good for us. Many of us take supplements to boost the supply of vitamins in our bodies. However, it wasn’t until 1912 that Polish biochemist Casimir Funk actually came up with the concept of vitamins, which he called "vital amines."
What (not) to say when apologising
"I was wrong. I'm sorry"—these words can have a magical effect on a struggling relationship. But if we fail to show empathy, the apology will sound fake or hurt the offended person even more.
In search of lost meaning
Traditional communities are like rivers, while modern societies are like oceans, said Polish sociologist Zygmunt Bauman. Consider that a river—deeper or shallower, faster or slower—always has a direction, as traditional societies usually direct the lives of their members. The ocean is a different story.
Who stole the happy endings?
"If I cut off your arm, will your husband take you again?" "My husband loves me very much." So he started cutting. "There was no alternative."
Biblical kings and controversial archaeologists
Traces of the ancient kingdom of Israel occasionally emerge from the dust of the Holy Land. These discoveries are immediately and inevitably followed by fierce controversies among archaeologists. As amateur spectators, Christians are eyewitnesses to these debates and, in one way or another, their faith is shaped by them.
The luxury of knowing why
Nothing can prepare us in advance for the suffering we will experience in this life. But even knowing this, we often remember with guilt the moments of blissful ignorance we had before suffering hit us.
Becoming truth tellers on post-truth social media
American President Joe Biden was obviously upset with Meta when, in mid 2021, he accused it of “killing people” for its seeming tolerance of so much Covid-19 misinformation. He backed down a little by clarifying that he wasn’t blaming Facebook itself, but the “bad information” they allowed on the site. Other have argued we live in a post-truth world.
Gifts for good
When I was in my mid-twenties, I attended a university in Brisbane, Australia, two hours from where I lived. I had a friend in the city who I’d sometimes stay with to avoid having to travel back and forth on back-to-back uni days.
How chefs became celebrities
What do a foul-mouthed, drug-abusing Canadian, a stately Frenchman from Bourg-en-Bresse and an American businesswoman whose prison nickname was “M Diddy”, all have in common?
The Epstein files and the magnetic fascination with scandal
The Jeffrey Epstein case periodically returns to the public eye with new revelations that promise, but fail, to provide a complete picture. Instead, the same reaction emerges: outrage, distrust of institutions, suspicion of elites and insatiable curiosity. Why does this story continue to captivate us?
The risks of discussions about saving the world
Concern for the planet's climate and its ecology has occupied the world's attention for many decades. In the 1980s, the ozone layer depletion caused by chlorofluorocarbons and similar gases was observed, and in 1987, the Montreal Protocol was finalised.
Sweet killer
In 1980, the World Health Organization estimated that there were 108 million people with diabetes. By 2021, the International Diabetes Federation database reported 537 million people with diabetes between the ages of 20 and 70, with projections of 643 million by 2030 and 783 million by 2045 (IDF Diabetes Atlas).
Autumn also has its spring
Sometimes, life is a succession of questions that God seems to ignore—until, at the right time, His silence provides an answer that is better than any answer in the world.


























