An Introduction to the Astrolabe, the Medieval Smartphone
Image by Anders Sandberg, via Wikimedia Commons Asked to imagine the character of everyday life in...
The Book of Colour Concepts: A New 800-Page Celebration of Color Theory, Including Works by Newton, Goethe, and Hilma af Klint
The Book of Colour Concepts will soon be published by Taschen in a multilingual edition, containing...
The Founder of the Red Cross Creates a Diagram of the Apocalypse (1887)
History remembers Henry Dunant (1828–1910) for two things–being the co-founder of the Red Cross movement and...
Coursera Offers $100 Off of Coursera Plus (Until March 31), Giving You Unlimited Access to Courses & Certificates
A heads up on a deal: Between now and March 31, 2024, Coursera is offering a...
The 15 Greatest Documentaries of All Time: Explore Films by Werner Herzog, Errol Morris & More
There are two kinds of people in this world: those who recognize the phrase “corny dialogue...
6,000 Years of History Visualized in a 23-Foot-Long Timeline of World History, Created in 1871
A beautiful early example of visualizing the flow of history, Sebastian C. Adams’ Synchronological Chart of Universal...
Vincent Van Gogh’s Final Painting: Discover Tree Roots, the Last Creative Act of the Dutch Painter (1890)
The story of Vincent van Gogh’s life tends to be defined by his psychological condition and...
Salvador Dalí’s Surreal Cutlery Set from 1957
In 1957, Salvador Dalí created a tableware set consisting of 1) a four-tooth fork with a...
When François Truffaut Made a Film Adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 (1966)
The protagonist of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is a “fireman” tasked with incinerating what few books...
How Engineers Straightened the Leaning Tower of Pisa
?si=WxyK2XAukThVTpa7 Construction on the Tower of Pisa first began in the year 1173. By 1178, the...
Benedict Cumberbatch Reads Alexei Navalny’s Final Letter: “Victory Is Inevitable. We Must Not Give Up”
Above, actor Benedict Cumberbatch reads the final letter written by Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader...
The Getty Makes Nearly 88,000 Art Images Free to Use However You Like
Since the J. Paul Getty Museum launched its Open Content program back in 2013, we’ve been...
Behold Soviet Animations of Ray Bradbury Stories
Sergei Bondarchuk directed an 8‑hour film adaptation of War and Peace (1966–67), which ended up winning...
How Humanity Got Hooked on Coffee: An Animated History
Few of us grow up drinking coffee, but once we start drinking it, even fewer of...
Frank Herbert Explains the Origins of Dune (1969)
Dune: Part Two has been playing in theaters for less than a week, but that’s more...
Almost 500 Etchings by Rembrandt Now Free Online, Courtesy of the Morgan Library & Museum
Seventeenth-century Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn may have more name recognition than nearly any other European...
Hear Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” Performed in Classical Latin
By the early nineteen-nineties, at least in the United States, Latin instruction in schools wasn’t what...
The Decimal Point Is 150 Years Older Than We Thought, Emerging in Renaissance Italy
Historians have long thought that the decimal point first came into use in 1593, when the...
The Puzzle of Docudramas — Pretty Much Pop: A Culture Podcast #167
When we’ve already heard about someone’s personal scandal in the news, do we need to...
The Most Beautiful Shots in Cinema History: Scenes from 100+ Films
If you’re an even mildly enthusiastic filmgoer, these two short compilations from The Solomon Society will...
Keith Richards Performs “I’m Waiting For The Man”: A New Tribute to Lou Reed
“To me, Lou stood out. The real deal! Something important to American music and to ALL...
How Jane Austen Changed Fiction Forever
Though Jane Austen hasn’t published a novel since 1817 — with her death that same year...
The US Postal Service to Release Stamp Collection Featuring the Photography of Ansel Adams
The US Postal Service will be classing up the joint, with the planned release of 16...
Watch the Film That Invented Cinema: Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory in Lyon (1895)
The brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière are often referred to as pioneers of cinema, and their...
Kino Lorber Lets You Stream 146 Films on YouTube: Tilda Swinton, Samuel L. Jackson, Steve Buscemi, Buster Keaton & More
The film distribution company Kino Lorber now allows you to stream complete films on YouTube for...
Learn to Become a Digital Marketing Analyst with Unilever’s New Certificate Program
Unilever, the consumer goods company headquartered in London, owns over 400 brands. Dove, Lipton, Ben &...
The Armored-Knight “Robot” Designed by Leonardo da Vinci (circa 1495)
Image by Erik Möller, via Wikimedia Commons Those of us who were playing video games in...
When the Berlin Philharmonic Performed John Cage’s Iconic Piece 4′33″, Capturing the Solitude of the Pandemic (2020)
In late October 2020, amidst another surge of the COVID-19 virus, the German government asked the...
The Life & Work of Richard Feynman Explored in a Three-Part Freakonomics Radio Miniseries
Here at Open Culture, Richard Feynman is never far from our minds. Though he distinguished himself...
How French Artists in 1899 Envisioned What Life Would Look Like in the Year 2000
Atomic physicist Niels Bohr is famously quoted as saying, “Prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s...
A Preview of Sora, the New OpenAI Tool That Creates Remarkable AI-Generated Videos
A little over four years ago, we featured here on Open Culture a set of realistic...
A Walking Tour of Los Angeles Architecture: From Art Deco to California Bungalow
When architectural historian Reyner Banham wrote Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies (1971), quite possibly...
“Hello Vincent”: A Generative AI Project Brings Vincent Van Gogh to Life at the Musée D’Orsay
?si=aoRK422gthc62UZE If you attend the “Van Gogh in Auvers-sur-Oise” exhibition at the Musée D’Orsay, in Paris,...
Discover the World’s Oldest University, Which Opened in 427 CE, Housed 9 Million Manuscripts, and Then Educated Students for 800 Years
In the Buddhist Asia of a dozen centuries ago, the equivalent of going off to study...
Hear Grace Slick’s Hair-Raising Vocals in the Isolated Track for “White Rabbit” (1967)
“One pill makes you larger and one pill makes you small…” Sometime in the summer of...
Isaac Asimov Predicts the Future in 1982: Computers Will Be “at the Center of Everything;” Robots Will Take Human Jobs
Four decades ago, our civilization seemed to stand on the brink of a great transformation. The...
The Jazz Classic “Take Five” Played Beautifully on a 1959 Classical Guitar
Above we have George Sakellariou performing Paul Desmond’s jazz classic, “Take Five,” on a vintage 1959...
Scenes from Life in Paris During the 1920s, Colorized and Restored: Cafés, Notre Dame, Street Life & More
Few cities have been as romanticized as Paris, and few eras in Paris have been as...
Watch a 1915 Film Adaptation of Alice in Wonderland Enhanced in 4K, with Costumes Based on Briginal Illustrations by Sir John Tenniel
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland predates the invention of cinema by a couple of decades. Nevertheless, much...
A Web Site That Lets You Find Your Home Address on Pangea
A cool tool. Software engineer Ian Webster has created a website that lets you see how...
The Red Hot Chili Peppers “Californication” Played on the Gayageum, a Korean Instrument That Emerged 1,400 Years Ago
We just had the chance to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers kick off a new...
Architect Breaks Down the Design Of Four Iconic New York City Museums: the Met, MoMA, Guggenheim & Frick
Context may not count for everything in art. But as underscored by everyone from Marcel Duchamp...
The $25,000 Turntable Designed by Brian Eno That Glows in Different Colors as It Plays
When we think of Brian Eno’s work, we first think of his records. These include not...
Punk Dulcimer: Hear The Ramones’ “I Wanna Be Sedated” Played on the Dulcimer
Sam Edelston can rock the duclimer. On his YouTube channel, he writes: “Dulcimers are natural rock...
A 3D Animation Shows the Evolution of New York City (1524 — 2023)
Nearly two and a half centuries after its founding, the United States of America is still...
The Cover of George Orwell’s 1984 Becomes Less Censored with Wear & Tear
In 2013, Penguin released in the UK a series of new covers for five works by...
10 Biggest Threats to the World in 2024, Ranked by Ian Bremmer
At the start of each year, Ian Bremmer, a political scientist and president of Eurasia Group, creates...
Black History in Two Minutes: Watch 93 Videos Written & Narrated by Henry Louis Gates Jr.
We’re nearly halfway through February, which the United States of America also knows as Black History...
Why Incompetent People Think They’re Competent: The Dunning-Kruger Effect, Explained
When surveyed, eighty to ninety percent of Americans consider themselves possessed of above-average driving skills. Most...
Ten of the Most Expensive Arts & Art Supplies in the Worlds: Japanese Bonsai Scissors & Calligraphy Brushes, Tunisian Dye Made from Snails and More
A few years ago, we featured a $32,000 pair of bonsai scissors here on Open Culture....