Category: Article of the Day

A French term meaning “already seen,” déjà vu refers to the feeling that something encountered for the first time is eerily familiar and has in fact been seen before. Although dreams, reincarnation, parallel universes, and out-of-body travel have been invoked to explain the phenomenon, it is most likely due to an anomaly of memory which creates the impression that an experience is being recalled. Which two pharmaceutical drugs have been reported to induce déjà vu when taken together? Discuss

Hongli took the title of Qianlong—meaning “the Era of Strong Prosperity”—when his imperial reign of China began in 1735. Ironically, by the end of Qianlong’s reign in 1796, expensive military expeditions and corruption had nearly exhausted the funds of the Imperial Treasury. A patron of the arts, the Qianlong Emperor commissioned a catalogue of all important Chinese cultural works that took 20 years to complete and consisted of 36,000 volumes. How many copyists were involved in the project? Discuss

Pharming is a type of cyber attack that aims to collect confidential user information by redirecting a website’s traffic to a different, bogus website that appears identical to the original site. By hacking into DNS servers—the “phone books” of the internet—and changing IP addresses, high-tech criminals can automatically redirect users to their phony sites. In recent years, pharming has become a major concern for e-commerce and online banking sites. How does pharming differ from phishing? Discuss

Meant to counteract decades of Russification—the promotion of Russian identity over indigenous culture during the imperial period—korenizatsiya was a Soviet policy that involved encouraging citizens to become literate and educated in the languages of their people and promoting members of the ethnic elite to positions of power. The policy began in the 1920s under Vladimir Lenin, who used it to spread communism. Who was the young revolutionary who conceived the policy—and later opposed it? Discuss

The son of Assyrian king Sargon II, Sennacherib spent much of his reign fighting to maintain the empire established by his father. Though he undertook many military campaigns, he was devoted to building projects and oversaw the construction of numerous canals as well as one of the world’s first aqueducts. Around 700 BCE, he built a magnificent palace, complete with a park and artificial irrigation, at Nineveh, which became the empire’s major metropolis during his reign. Who murdered Sennacherib? Discuss

The were-jaguar is one of the most prominent and enigmatic designs of the Olmec people, who flourished between 1200 BCE and 400 BCE in south-central Mexico. Seen in murals and statues, the design is characterized by a down-turned mouth, almond-shaped eyes, fleshy lips, and a cleft forehead. Though the term is derived from the Old English “were,” meaning “man,” and “jaguar,” the predatory cat revered by the Olmec people, some scholars believe were-jaguars represent a different animal. Which one? Discuss

Though taiko simply means “drum” in Japanese, the word is often used outside of Japan to refer to the relatively recent phenomenon of ensemble taiko drumming, and to the drums it employs, which are among the world’s largest. In fact, some of these drums are so large that they remain in a single location and are never moved. Although modern taiko was established in 1951, its first recorded use was on the battlefields of ancient Japan. How were the drums used in warfare? Discuss

Commonly known in the West as the Chinese phoenix, the fenghuang is a mythical Chinese bird fabled to reign over all other birds. Though there was initially a distinction between the male feng and female huang, today the two are often combined into a single feminine entity that pairs with the masculine Chinese dragon to symbolize the yin-yang principle with respect to marital harmony. Ancient texts describe the fenghuang as having the physical traits of several different animals. What are they? Discuss

The subjects of rumor and urban legend since the 1970s, psychoactive toads are toads from which hallucinogenic, mind-altering substances such as 5-MeO-DMT and bufotenin can be derived. The presence of such substances may produce psychoactive effects in persons who smoke the toad skin or venom. However, contrary to popular myth, there is no evidence that hallucinatory effects can be achieved by licking the toads. In what country have dogs begun to pursue the toads? Discuss

Famed poet and writer Edgar Allan Poe considered his 1848 essay “Eureka” to be his career masterpiece. Though described as a “prose poem” by Poe, who wished it to be viewed as art, the work is also a notable scientific and mystical essay unlike any of his other works and includes a cosmological theory that touches on black holes and the big bang theory about 80 years before the 2 subjects gained widespread recognition. Poe claimed “Eureka” was more important than what major scientific discovery? Discuss