History

July 15, 2025

Discover 4,000-Year-Old Recipes in the Oldest-Known Cookbook From Ancient Babylonia

Mesopotamia has long been considered as the “cradle of civilization,” housing some of the world’s earliest complex societies, such as the Sumerians, Akkadians, Assyrians, Persians, and Babylonians. Though we’ve since developed a sophisticated understanding of these ancient civilizations, their food menus remain quite obscure, beyond “old world” staples like barley, wheat, sheep, goat, cow, and pig.

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June 30, 2025

How the Coloring Book Boomeranged From Adults to Children and Back Again

In recent years, adults have gravitated toward some more youthful means of relieving stress: fidget cubes, slime, life simulator and sandbox games like Animal Crossing or Stardew Valley, and, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, coloring books. Though typically leaning into abstract themes like math, these adult coloring books are still nostalgic reminders of our childhoods—and when we vied for the crayon box with more confidence.

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June 21, 2025

Fascinating Cross-Section Shows Over 4,000 Years of an English Highway’s History

A stratified cross-section of a highway in the United Kingdom tells a fascinating history of the country. The image, which has been circulating online for several years, shows millennia of material from a Bronze Age trackway to modern asphalt. All the more interesting is the fact that the road represented is the A303, which runs through the Stonehenge World Heritage Site.

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My Modern Met

Celebrating creativity and promoting a positive culture by spotlighting the best sides of humanity—from the lighthearted and fun to the thought-provoking and enlightening.