History Archives - BEST Futures

Justice for Neanderthals!

Sep 18, 2023 | History, Opinion

They were long derided as knuckle-draggers, but new discoveries are setting the record straight. As we rethink the nature of the Neanderthals, we could also learn something about our own humanity.

Shaping history – ten years studying one Wikipedia article

Nov 24, 2022 | History

Rather than exhibiting rational consensus among dispassionate observers, Wikipedia mirrored the passion, emotion, and violence of Tahrir Square in Cairo in 2011. Did Wikipedia help shape the political events of the Egyptian Revolution?

The UFO sightings that swept the US

Jul 14, 2022 | History

Seventy-five years on from the first mysterious sightings in the US, Nicholas Barber looks back at one of the most haunting objects in popular culture.

What lessons can we learn from the last great cooling-off period?

May 9, 2022 | History

The ‘little ice age’ of the 14th to the 19th centuries brought cold winters to Europe and unusual weather globally. Studying how humans adapted could be valuable.

What Big History misses

Dec 16, 2021 | History, Opinion

Sweeping the human story into a cosmic tale is a thrill but we should be wary about what is overlooked in the grandeur.