In The News

Linguist’s Preservation Kit Has New Digital Tools

Chris Nicholson July 28, 2009
Languages have faced extinction throughout history. Often, it is the evolutionary forces of greater interconnectedness through trade and war that lead to the dominance of one spoken tongue. From Greek to Arabic to English, the language of traders has frequently become the lingua franca. This has led to a decline in the usage of other languages as individuals connect speaking a particular language...

We Are All Africans

Nayan Chanda July 21, 2009
Racial discrimination is perhaps the most superficial of all prejudices. And this is borne out not simply by an examination of the causes, but also by the scientific data surrounding our common ancestry. Both maternal mtDNA and paternal Y-chromosome show that everyone carries genetic code of African origin. Humans’ differing physical features – blonde or black hair, round or slanted eyes – are...

China Rises Again – Part I

Wang Gungwu March 25, 2009
In China’s long history, its leaders have managed other rises in power and preeminence, but the current rise confronts them with a different set of challenges on a global scale. This two-part series reflects on how China handles its rise and responds to other global powers. In the first article of the series, leading historian of China’s foreign relations, Wang Gungwu, details the considerations...

The Ties That Bind

Nayan Chanda February 26, 2009
Globalization has suffered two setbacks. First, skyrocketing prices for oil and the financial crisis which destroyed trillions of dollars of wealth and sent the whole world into a recession. Evoking World War I and the Great Depression, observers such as Financial Times columnist Martin Wolf suggested that the economic crisis will stoke protectionism and nationalism and therefore halt...

Britain Must Not Go Wobbly on the Free Market

Emma Marcegaglia February 10, 2009
When jobs are hard to come by, communities naturally try to support local businesses. Domestic workers demand job protection, without stopping to calculate how many might work for foreign firms. Any defensive posture comes at a grave cost, as foreign employers retaliate, abruptly halting efficient trade and hiring. Unfortunately, even the nations that have benefited so much from free trade, such...

The Forgotten Virtues of Free Trade

Frank Trentmann December 1, 2008
As an economic recession sweeps the world, the countries that have benefited most from free trade have now become wary. “Free trade is far from perfect, but the alternatives are worse,” insists Frank Trentmann, professor of history, in an essay for Project Syndicate. “Protectionism is bad for wealth, bad for democracy, and bad for peace.” Nations may attempt to protect a few select industries,...

Solving a Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery Inside a Cookie

Jennifer 8. Lee January 18, 2008
Fortune cookies are popular in Chinese restaurants the world over, everywhere but China. Japanese researcher Yasuko Nakamachi theorizes the absence is because the cookies originated in Japan, as evidenced by references in Japanese literature and art decades before the early 1900s. California restaurants with Japanese owners introduced the dessert between 1907 and 1914, reports author Jennifer Lee...