Tim Radford / Climate News NetworkApr 19, 2018
Astrobiology—the search for alien life—suggests a lesson for us here on earth: Civilization may not be sustainable over geological eras but, rather, self-destroying. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )
Tim Radford / Climate News NetworkOct 24, 2017
Research into the impact of climate change on early society reveals a connection between environmental stress and the collapse of civilizations. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )
By Tim Radford / Climate News NetworkDec 14, 2016
The first attempt to measure the volume of stuff created by humankind reveals that it is at least 100,000 times heavier than the global human population. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )
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Michael Dirda / TruthdigOct 8, 2016
A new book on ancient Egypt is full of fascinating material, including a re-examination of Cleopatra's death, a look at the fluidity of sexual identity, and a tale about being carried off by a hippopotamus. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )
Alexander Reed Kelly / TruthdigMar 14, 2015
Cognitive scientist Steven Pinker’s 2011 book “The Better Angels of Our Nature” has convinced many people that humanity has steadily become less violent in the recent past. English philosopher John Gray argues that Pinker merely sees what he wants in trends and statistics. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )
By Ron CharlesSep 5, 2014
This novel, nominated for the Man Booker Prize, examines a group of Australian POWs during WWII as individuals, and their efforts to cling to the trappings of civilization no matter how slight or futile. Dig deeper ( 5 Min. Read )
BLANKJul 20, 2013
A description of the lives of Polynesian islanders in Melville's book "Typee" shows that the inhumanities of capitalism visible today and constantly attacked by Truthdig columnist Chris Hedges were plainly recognized in American literature of the mid-19th century. Dig deeper ( 7 Min. Read )
By Eduardo Galeano, TomDispatchMay 1, 2013
After Roman legions invaded Egypt, during one of the battles waged by Julius Caesar against the brother of Cleopatra, fire devoured most of the thousands upon thousands of papyrus scrolls in the Library of Alexandria. A pair of millennia later, during George W. Bush’s crusade against an imaginary enemy in Iraq, most of the books in the Library of Baghdad were reduced to ashes. Dig deeper ( 5 Min. Read )
Chris Hedges / TruthdigJan 14, 2013
The mounting distortions of climate change and the rapid depletion of natural resources have done little to blunt the self-destructive notion of ceaseless expansion The road we are on points toward human extinction. Dig deeper ( 7 Min. Read )
Staff / TruthdigJan 22, 2010
Sure, it behooved our Neolithic ancestors to band together and form proto-civilizations for many reasons, but one main motivation, according to archaeologist Patrick McGovern -- who works, and we kid you not, at the University of Pennsylvania Museum's Biomolecular Archaeology Laboratory for Cuisine, Fermented Beverages, and Health -- was the time-honored pursuit of alcoholic intoxication. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )
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