In many cities globally, bars play a central role in social life and are closely associated with youth culture. Despite this popular perception, a surprising reality lies beneath the surface: The term “bar” encompasses various establishments, but a general rule applies— the cooler the bar, the worse the experience it provides. On weekend nights, what

Humans excel in many areas, but grasping the concept of time in perspective proves to be a challenging task. The vastness of time in human history, and especially in natural history, far surpasses the length of our lives and recent history, making it incredibly difficult to comprehend. Putting it into context, if we consider the

Hey readers! Quick note before we jump in: This is a post about something I’ve been wanting to write about forever: careers. Society tells us a lot of things about what we should want in a career and what the possibilities are—which is weird because I’m pretty sure society knows very little about any of

If an alien ever immigrated to Earth, he’d be a social disaster. He’d try his hardest to learn by observing how humans behave, but it wouldn’t be easy—he’d see someone ask a stranger for a cigarette and he’d go ask for a sip of someone’s latte. He’d see a couple kissing on the street and

Welcome to the series on Exploring Unusual Places. In May 2014, I asked the subscribers of Blue Jay Blog which countries they would like me to visit over the summer. They picked Russia, Japan, Nigeria, Iraq, and Greenland. Thus, I traveled to each of these countries for about two weeks each and wrote a detailed