The Resilient Pagans of Russia

Raffaele Petralla captures the resilient traditions of the Mari in Russia’s tiny Mari-El republic.
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Crown Casino high-roller named as threat to Australian sport

One of Asia's biggest unregulated bookmakers, an alleged organised crime figure, is identified by law enforcement as a potential threat to the integrity of sport across Australia.
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Japan is sinking in a sea of money

Author: Masanaga Kumakura, Komazawa University According to conventional economic theory, the monetisation of government debt is a recipe for fiscal profligacy and hyperinflation. It should be the last thing any credible central bank turns its hand to. But this is precisely what the Bank of Japan (BOJ) has been doing for the last three years.
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See inside a notorious Siberian prison

Travellers can now check into a “sweat-box” punishment cell at the Prison Castle – where Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Tsar Nicholas II and Stalin’s victims did time.
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New research into the origins of the Austronesian languages

THE languages known as Austronesian are spoken by more than 380 million people in territories that include Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Madagascar and the islands of the Pacific.
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An ancestor of the rabbit connects Europe and Asia

The species Amphilagus tomidai was recently discovered - an ancestor of the rabbit which lived in present-day Siberia during the Miocene, about 14 million years ago.
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February 2016 – Where to look for the planets

For star gazers in the Southern Hemisphere: Use the finder charts on this page to guide you to where to look for the planets in February 2016.
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How Nigerian Romance Novelists Sneak Feminism Into Their Plots

Say you've run into a spot of trouble–some relationship issues, or family drama, or your friends are angry at you. Or maybe it's worse–you're in a discriminatory situation, or even a dangerous one. You need help from someone smart; someone who really gets it. Who do you turn to? If you're living in Kano, Nigeria, you'll probably do the opposite of what you'd do anywhere else. You'd pick up a romance novel.
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World's oldest tea remains discovered on ancient trade route

Residues found in burial pits near tomb of Han dynasty emperor Liu Qi shows plant was being transported along Silk Road route over 2,000 years ago. The oldest physical remains ever discovered previously were hundreds of years younger than the new find – dating from the northern Song Dynasty (AD960-AD1,127).
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In Japan, small shakes presage big quakes

Clusters of slow-slip events linked to risk of larger ones.
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Can a Big Government Push Bring the Nobel Prize in Literature to South Korea?

The race to cultivate an international appetite for the next generation of world-class South Korean writers is under way.
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Special Collections: Brian Collier's Teeny Tiny Things

Very Small Objects is an ongoing project of Collier's. He identifies himself as a re-naturalist. "I've always been really interested in the history of natural history," he says, noting "the level of subjectivity in the invention of classification systems." It probably doesn't hurt that Collier's grandfather was a watch repairman.
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'Snake Bird' and 'Mountain Echo': What Traditional Names Teach Us About Birds

In the Indian state of Kerala, citizen birdwatchers are building their first atlas, which includes both English and Malayalam names.
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Meanwhile In Canada, A Real Estate Bargain Emerges. ($2.4 million CAD)

We’ve long known that Canada, like Sweden and Denmark, is sitting on a giant housing bubble. Indeed we took a close look at the issue back in March of last year and have revisited in on several occasions since.
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In Fragments from Fustat, Glimpses of a Cosmopolitan Old Cairo

Its 2015 exhibition A Cosmopolitan City: Muslims, Christians and Jews in Old Cairo introduced the urban world of Islamic Egypt, a world much closer to our own today yet often overlooked amid the spectacular wonders of the country’s deep Pharaonic past. The show focused on the now-obscure medieval city of Fustat through artifacts of daily life and items highlighting the art and literature of the period—many of which were brought newly to light out of the Institute’s own storerooms.
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Ancient extinction of giant Australian bird points to humans

The first direct evidence that humans played a substantial role in the extinction of the huge, wondrous beasts inhabiting Australia some 50,000 years ago -- in this case a 500-pound bird -- has been discovered by a University of Colorado Boulder-led team.
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A Father Searches For Justice Five Years After Tahrir Square

A father’s search for meaning and justice five years after his son was killed during the Tahrir Square uprising. By Jared Maslin.
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Briggs and Aamer Rahman Versus Australia Day

Australia Day commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet in Botany Bay in 1788, and the founding of a British colony in Australia. Many celebrate it by observing our national past times—binge drinking and BBQing piles of meat. For some Australians though, particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island peoples, the celebration is much more complex. Yorta Yorta rapper Briggs and Bangladeshi-Australian comedian Aamer Rahman sat down to discuss their feelings on our national holiday.
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Black Death

How Africa Became Heavy Metal’s New Frontier
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The Tree Farm

‘I was going north to find a tree farm, in a land where there are no trees.’ Cal Flyn on Scottish forestry.
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Battle Stations—Okinawa in 2016

The year 2016 might turn out to be a decisive one in the long-running contest between the Japanese state and Okinawa prefecture over the construction of a new base for the US Marine Corps at Henoko on Oura Bay. Gavan McCormack
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Italy’s mysterious hallucinogenic drink

The subject of local legends, this mysterious ruby-coloured cocktail is known for its high alcohol content, obscure ingredients and hallucinogenic effects.
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Myanmar's Karen People Defend Their Land

Since gaining formal independence from the United Kingdom in 1948, Myanmar’s (also called Burma's) numerous ethnic tribes have clashed with the military-led government. One group, the Karen people, have fought for independence since 1949, in what is considered the country’s longest civil war. They call their narrow strip of territory in the country’s southeast “Kaw Thoo Lei” or “peaceful land”—even though it is anything but.
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ANNE PIERCE: On Syria, U.S. defers to Russia, Iran

Is this the United States of America that continuously defers to Russia and Iran, and thereby to the Syria of Bashar al Assad? Do our own actions and words enable one of the most murderous and cruel, destructive and destabilizing, regimes the world has ever seen? Have we so lost our strategic sense and moral compass that we knowingly repeat policies that have made war and atrocities in Syria worse?
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Unfinished business: Roma inclusion in Europe

Europe's Roma minority continues to be marginalised and ignored by state institutions and the rest of society.
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Sofles - Adnate

Street art in Belgium (Hasselt)
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29th January 1979 - Deng Xiaoping and Jimmy Carter sign accords

Deng Xiaoping, deputy premier of China, meets President Jimmy Carter, and together they sign historic new accords that reverse decades of U.S. opposition to the People’s Republic of China.
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Syria Exporting ‘Chemical Courage’ Drug

Syria is becoming a major producer of a banned amphetamine that gives “chemical courage” to fighters in the country’s civil war and helps them fight for longer, according to the United Nations.
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Berkeley’s cell phone radiation warning law can go into effect, judge rules

All city had to do was delete: "This potential risk is greater for children."
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Here's looking at: Rottnest by Guy Grey-Smith

Guy Grey-Smith's painting showcases the insistent rhythms of the indigenous vegetation and the rolling, flowing movements that take our eye meandering across the landscape and back towards the horizon.
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Breathtaking Paraglide Flight Through Aurora Borealis | Horacio Llorens

Battling sub-zero degree temperatures on the ground near Trømso, Norway, the Spanish acrobatic paraglider pilot Horacio Llorens donned a wetsuit and battery-heated gloves, powered up his paramotor, and flatland-launched himself into an amazing night flight with the ethereal green waves of the Aurora Borealis.
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The Merry Cemetery

Small-town Romanian cemetery filled with darkly humorous gravestones
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Female Drone Operators Are Not a Feminist Victory

Female drone operators are not feminist victories, because they hurt women's lives by endangering their family members.
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Where to Travel for Food in 2016 -- National Geographic Travel

See our editors' picks for the top destinations to satisfy your food cravings.
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Stalin 'used secret laboratory to analyse Mao's excrement'

A former Soviet agent says he has found evidence that Joseph Stalin spied on Mao Zedong, among others, using stool samples.
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History Is Melting

Archaeologists are forced to choose what to save as their dig sites disappear into the Arctic Ocean.
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Predynastic Period in Egypt

The Predynastic Period in Ancient Egypt is the time before recorded history from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic Age and on to the rise of the First Dynasty and is generally recognized as spanning the era from c. 6000-3150 BCE (though physical evidence argues for a longer history).
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Social octopuses resolve fights using colour to mark their mood

Octopuses are social animals that change colours to resolve disputes and even throw debris at each other, video footage shows.
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With Growing Investments, China's Influence In Autos Is Expanding

For the first time on a mass scale, a car built in China will be on sale in the United States — the Buick Envision.
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The Zen of Hitler Youth

To understand why Hitler so strongly emphasized the need for German youth to understand "the great spirit of the Japanese people," we should recall that as early as his 1925 work Mein Kampf, Hitler wrote: "All force which does not spring from a firm spiritual foundation will be hesitating and uncertain." Hesitating and uncertain force was the last thing Hitler needed in his future soldiers.
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China Before Europe’s Intrusion

The Selden map is a magnificent artifact of the age of long-distance trading empires and overseas colonies. And yet it does not show us the world as we expect to see it. This is not a map of late Ming China as a territory, nor a celebration of the Middle Kingdom, though the mapmaker carefully outlines its provinces. Nor does it trace the pathways by which Europeans made inroads into Asia.  Filled with Chinese characters and occasional annotations in Latin, the map delineates a different story.
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Surviving Solitary Confinement: An ex-con on how to set your mind free.

With a sigh, Johnny Perez rises from his plastic chair, unfolds his lanky frame and extends his wingspan until the tips of his middle fingers graze the walls. “It was from here to here,” he says. “I know because I used to do this all the time.” Until recently, these measurements—10 feet by 6 feet—fit his entire life. Two years ago, Perez was released on parole after serving 13 years at Rikers Island penitentiary, three of which he spent in solitary confinement.
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Uganda: When Democracy Doesn’t Count

In exchange for putting Ugandan troops at America’s disposal, Uganda has received some $15 billion in foreign aid from the West since 1990 and a virtual free pass from the US when it comes to human rights violations. Its presidential election on February 18 may be decided outside the voting both. By Helen Epstein.
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The Zika virus foreshadows our dystopian climate future

The mosquito-borne disease shows that pushing the limits of the planet’s ecology has become dangerous in novel ways. By Bill McKibben.
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The leper that saved a reef

Despite living in utter isolation on a desert island for 40 years, one inspirational couple has overcome disability and blindness to make a difference.
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Ancient church discovered in underground city

he church was found during excavations for an urban housing project in the central Anatolian province of Nevşehir and local authorities say it could become a major Christian pilgrimage site. According to Nevşehir's mayor, Hasan Ünver, the frescoes depict the Ascension and the Last Judgment. "We know that such frescoes have so far never been seen in any other church," he said, adding that preliminary studies show the church might date back to the 5th century AD.
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The conman who pulled off history’s most audacious scam

How do you make someone bend to your will? Maria Konnikova finds answers by exploring the psychological tricks of one of history’s most shocking fraudsters.
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Cutting Loose

Scotland's prison hairdressing competition: where prisoners are given scissors and a chance at a new life. Directed by Finlay Pretsell and Adrian McDowall.
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No soup for you: Restaurant bans young kids

Owner says it's "just common social etiquette" to control children.
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Google doodle honours Beatrice Tinsley, one of New Zealand's most gifted astronomers

Beatrice Tinsley is one of New Zealand's most uncelebrated celebrities. She overcame almost insuperable odds to become a scientist and professor of astronomy at Yale University.
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