The Curiosity Gap Content

What Does it Mean To Own Something?

Karen Michele Nikos — September 06, 2024 - 3:30pm

For most of his adolescence, Gerardo Con Diaz viewed the world through the prism of mathematics. He excelled at numbers and computation, winning mathematics competitions while growing up in Costa Rica and later majoring in the subject while studying at Harvard University. He was enroute to a mathematics career, but something was off.

“There was this nagging sensation that there might be a path I hadn’t considered,” Diaz recalled.

How Do You Take History from the Front Porch to the Streets?

Karen Michele Nikos — August 19, 2024 - 2:25pm

Dave Peters’ porch in West Oakland is a place everyone in the area knows, partly because of the décor, but mostly because of the effervescent, exuberant man who spends many days there, calling out to neighbors and passersby, letting people know that he is there and letting people know that he recognizes that they are there too.

The Conversation: What is the Meaning of Kamala?

Karen Michele Nikos — August 14, 2024 - 9:32am

Ever since Vice President Kamala Harris became a presence on the national scene, her name — a common one for women in India — has attracted a lot of attention, most specifically for its pronunciation.

The three-syllable word should be pronounced “Come-a-laa” (Kamalā), with the final long “a” signaling a feminine noun in Sanskrit. In the United States, it is often enunciated with stresses placed on the first or second syllable.

At the Olympics, Can Anyone Sideline Politics?

Karen Michele Nikos — August 07, 2024 - 3:54pm

΢��Ƶ professor says expecting the Olympics to be apolitical is to ignore their history.

What are the Limits of Free Speech?

Karen Michele Nikos — July 30, 2024 - 4:13pm

The right to free speech is part of our American identity, but what if some forms of speech use this idea of freedom against us? Increasingly, certain forms of speech — hate speech and disinformation in particular — threaten our society and the many freedoms we might take for granted.

Did Trump's 2016 Election Affect Babies' Health?

Karen Michele Nikos — July 25, 2024 - 11:14am

In 2016, President-elect Donald Trump vowed to deport thousands of immigrants. His anti-immigration message vilified foreign-born people living in the U.S.

How Can Seagrasses Help Mitigate Climate Change?

Karen Michele Nikos — July 17, 2024 - 3:43am

On a triple-digit summer day in Davis, community members found shade and science within the walls of G Street WunderBar at the latest Davis Science Café. Standing at the front of the pub, marine geochemist and oceanographer Tessa Hill showed the audience a picture of a fog-shrouded Tomales Bay and asked them to reflect on their connections to the ocean.

The Conversation: Will a Market Crash One Day be Pinned on the Supreme Court?

Karen Michele Nikos — July 15, 2024 - 2:45pm

In two major rulings this past month, the U.S. Supreme Court curtailed the authority of federal agencies to draft and enforce policies that affect the nation’s financial health. One important agency, the Securities and Exchange Commission, took a particularly big hit.

How Do You Safeguard Endangered Human Rights History in Peru?

Karen Michele Nikos — July 09, 2024 - 12:40pm

Research team led by Charles Walker, professor of history at ΢��Ƶ, (not pictured) and Ruth Borja Santa Cruz (center), professor of history at the University of San Marcos in Peru, digitizes documents in Peru. (Courtesy/ Charles Walker)

The Conversation: Does History Matter in Deciding Supreme Court Cases?

Karen Michele Nikos — June 21, 2024 - 8:26am

Historians are coming out of the archives and sharing their expertise. (Getty Images)