Taiko

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

Source: The Free Dictionary

Fenghuang

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

Source: The Free Dictionary

Psychoactive Toads

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

Source: The Free Dictionary

Edgar Allan Poe’s “Eureka”

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

Source: The Free Dictionary

Catharism

The Cathars were members of a Christian sect that flourished in France in the 12th and 13th centuries. Because most adherents believed in reincarnation—as opposed to resurrection—as a way of reaching the pure spirit realm, the Roman Catholic Church regarded the sect as heretical and launched the Albigensian Crusade to crush the movement. In one account of a massacre of some 20,000 Cathars, one of the crusade’s commanders is asked how to tell Cathars from Catholics. What was his famous reply? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Offal

Considered either waste material or delicacy, depending on the cultural context, offal is the entrails and internal organs of a butchered animal. It is prepared and consumed in a myriad of ways throughout the world. In the Philippines, pig intestines are used to make a type of blood sausage called Dinuguan, and in Pakistan, livers, brains, and kidneys are components of Taka-Tak. Scotland’s haggis is a boiled mix of sheep’s liver, heart, and lungs stuffed in what other organ? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Ebola

Ebola, the virus group responsible for an often fatal hemorrhagic fever, emerged in Africa in the 1970s and was named for a river near the site of the first recognized outbreak. With mortality rates as high as 90%, Ebola hemorrhagic fever encompasses a range of symptoms, including vomiting, diarrhea, and sometimes internal and external bleeding, and has no approved vaccine or treatment. Although the carrier is still unknown, what animal is thought to be the most likely reservoir of the disease? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

The Old Summer Palace

Known in China as the Gardens of Perfect Clarity, the Old Summer Palace was a complex of palaces and gardens built in the 18th and early 19th centuries near the walls of Beijing. Hundreds of invaluable Chinese art masterpieces and antiquities were stored in its halls, making the Imperial Gardens one of the largest museums in the world. In 1860, during the Second Opium War, British and French troops looted and destroyed the gardens. Why have the Chinese decided not to rebuild the complex? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

The Capgras Delusion

The Capgras Delusion is a rare disorder in which a person holds the delusional belief that an acquaintance—usually a spouse or other close family member—has been replaced by an identical impostor. Found in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, dementia, or those suffering from a brain injury, the disorder is named after Joseph Capgras, the French psychiatrist who first described it in 1923. What have researchers since learned about the disorder? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Kshatriya: The Warrior Class

Kshatriya is Hindu India’s military varna, or caste. In ancient times, it was considered the highest varna, but it was later supplanted by the priestly Brahman class. The legend of the caste’s demotion by Vishnu may reflect a historical struggle for power between priests and rulers. According to Hindu texts, Kshatriyas studied the ancient martial arts, which were eventually carried by Buddhist monks to China and Japan. “Kshatriya” derives from the Sanskrit word meaning what? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary