March 29th, 2017

The many dialects of the Chinese Language are all quite challenging, but amongst them Wenzhounese is perhaps the hardest. The province of Wenzhou (温州, meaning 'Warm state') was geographically isolated throughout much of its history. On account of this, the Wenzhounese language diverged, becoming mutually unintelligible with all other varieties of modern Chinese. It also preserves aspects of ancient Chinese, making it somewhat of a living fossil. The complexity and nuances of the language have earned it the nickname 'The Devil's Language', and inspired the Chinese phrase '天不怕，地不怕，就怕温州人说温州话' (Don't fear the sky, don't fear the earth, fear the man from Wenzhou speaking Wenzhounese).

Bonus:

Because of its difficulty, Wenzhounese was purportedly used to transmit secret codes during the Sino-Vietnamese War. This employment of obscure languages in wartime has been used all over the world, most notably in the case of the Navajo language during the 2nd World War.

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March 28th, 2017

A heart-burial is a ritual in which the heart of the deceased is buried elsewhere from the body. Often times the body is laid to rest where the death occurred, while the heart is returned to an area that held sentimental significance for the deceased in life.

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March 27th, 2017

Some countries offer citizenship to those who make a substantial contribution to their economy: usually at least a few hundred thousand dollars. This is called 'citizenship-by-investment', and has become somewhat popular amongst small island nations. The initiative can be a huge boost to relatively small economies, but can also usher in criminals trying to acquire a new citizenship to avoid taxes or legal proceedings in their home country.

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March 26th, 2017

How do magnets work? It's a tough question, even inspiring an internet meme. At the very bottom of all this is the fundamental concept that a magnetic field is the movement of energy (charge). So at the level of particles, how can it be that a particle that is not moving can still have a magnetic charge, as is the case with protons and electrons? This is a caused by a property of every particle that we call 'spin'. What is spin and how is it expressed by particles? We don't know! All we know is that there is some property of particles that gives them tiny magnetic fields. A particle that is not moving, but rotating on itself, would still count as 'moving energy', and hence the term spin is used. However, fundamental particles are infinitely small, and therefore the idea breaks down. For now, until a more satisfactory understanding is developed, the best we can do is move forwards using this analogy of a rotating particle. Atoms can be magnetic when their electrons are organized in such a way that more of them are spinning in one direction than the other. Iron, for example, has 26 electrons: 11 spinning one way, and 15 the other. So the net pull is in the direction of the 15. Of course there are always exceptions. Manganese has 10 electrons spinning one way, and 15 the other, so the imbalance towards the 15 should be even stronger. Yet manganese is not magnetic, because of a phenomenon called Exchange Interaction. Essentially, for the question of how magnets work, the more satisfactory you aim to make your answer the deeper down the rabbit hole you go...

Bonus:

Some of the complexity of the subatomic world is rather imaginatively animated in this quick video by graphic designer Markos Kay.

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March 25th, 2017

Le Brady is a theatre in Paris opened in 1956. It is a cinema 'Art et Essaie', meaning that it focuses on independent film, and also screens movies that have finished their runs in traditional cinemas. More intriguing, however, is that it is one of the last theatres in Paris that still sells tickets for seats, not for specific films. This means cinema-goers can stay as long as they desire. On account of this, homeless people have been known to use the cinema to sleep, and Le Brady has been sometimes called 'l'hôtel le moins cher de Paris' (the cheapest hotel in Paris).

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March 24th, 2017

In Ancient Greece, statues were usually made with bronze, or sometimes wood as of the 5th century BC. Wood tended to rapidly decompose, and bronze could be easily reclaimed as scrap. This meant that very little has survived from this period. Thankfully, the Romans took a fancy for recreating these sculptures in marble from the 2nd century CE onward, meaning we have a reasonable idea of what the original sculptures looked like from Roman reproductions. A very small number of original sculptures have survived from the ancient era, however. Some are bronze, and were found submerged. There are also a small number of original marble sculptures that have survived from the Hellenistic Period (the last 3 centuries BC). The Louvre's Venus de Milo and Winged Victory of Samothrace are both exquisite cases, and though the Roman sculptures are equally beautiful, the history of these two puts them in a league of their own.

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March 23rd, 2017

Since the case of Loving vs Virginia made interracial marriage legal across the United States in 1967, such marriages have been on the rise. In 2013 it was reported that 12% of marriages were interracial (in 1960 the figure was 0.4%). Public opinion has also shifted drastically in the past half century, with nearly all Americans now saying interracial marriage is acceptable.

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