There is an elegant economy in the word "mama." It appears across languages so diverse, so geographically and culturally separated, that its persistence feels almost inevitable. Yet there's nothing accidental about it. Mama exists everywhere for a simple reason: it works. The story begins in the mouths of infants. When babies first discover their voices, they babble with open vowels and soft consonants, sounds that require minimal coordination of their still-developing vocal

I travelled back in time into that hillside camp before dawn. The mist lay heavy across the plains of Alise‑Sainte‑Reine, shrouding the Roman lines in near silence. I watched as the legionaries moved with mechanical precision, stakes, pickaxes, wooden beams, each one placed as though by a blueprint. I was struck by the earth itself. They carved ramparts and palisades in perfect rings around the hill where Vercingetorix and his Gallic warriors held out. The terrain rose steepl

I was in a social setting. We were talking about some interesting issues regarding evolution and certain observations that are interesting, like how our teeth evolved to become smaller after we have invented fire and started to eat cooked food, and how as a result, wisdom teeth are no longer needed, that’s why they are being phased out, and so on. A lady was on our table, and she was engrossed with what I was saying, and she was looking at me intently, absorbed by the narrati

If I could time travel, I would go to Clermont, France, on November 27, 1095, to witness Pope Urban II deliver the speech that launched the First Crusade. I want to see the exact moment when words became weapons, when rhetoric transformed into a military movement that would shape the next two centuries of human conflict. I want to be there in that field outside the city when Urban addresses the crowd. Thousands of people gathered to hear him speak about Christian duty, about