USC Dornsife News

Gifting roses and celebrating love on Valentine’s Day are now a normal part of courtship, but the history behind these choices may surprise you.

Ancient Greek philosophers despised the Sophists’ rhetoric because it searched for relative truth, not absolutes. But learning how to do that thoughtfully can help constructive debates.

From the communal baths of ancient Rome to the Great Stink of London and the fortuitously named Victorian sanitary engineer Thomas Crapper, we explore the strangely fascinating history of plumbing through the ages.

Water has inspired famed literary tales such as Melville’s ‘Moby Dick’ and the Bible’s great flood and launched the revolutionary art movement called Impressionism, making it as essential to art is it is to life on Earth.

We have been fascinated by the wonders of the universe and have endeavored to understand our place within it since our earliest ancestors first gazed up in awe at the night sky. So, how did ancient civilizations make sense of the cosmos — and what did they get right? [12½ min read]

The 2,000-year-old remains of a former slave, the head still adorned with strands of hair, are discovered alongside several urns of human ashes. [4½ min read]

The inventors of the Games in 776 B.C. would likely view the current, ghostly version of their Olympic festival as absurd. [6½ min read]

The Games of the XXXII Olympiad take place in Tokyo this summer. Now an international competition focused primarily on athleticism, the games have evolved considerably from their roots in ancient Greece. [1¾ min read]

Our memory holds our past, builds our future and forges our personal identity. It also shapes the historical record. This intangible asset might be the most powerful force humanity possesses — but will technology eventually overshadow it? [11¼ min read]