One of the four classical elements, capable of both remarkable destructive and generative effect, the heat and light product of chemical reactions that we know as fire" is one of the baseline phenomena of human experience. Harnessing and controlling fire is perhaps the single most important achievem...

Man is purported to be the only animal that can lie by telling the truth. Whether we are dealing with the confidence games of cheats and forgers, with pranksters whose stunts reveal unacknowledged contradictions in society or with apparently simple ways of fooling the eye, deception remains a powerf...

Dust is everywhere, a perennial presence in the corners of culture. Dust can be deathly (domestic dust is mostly desiccated human skin), deadly (poisonous dust is the product of industry and war) or beautiful (the dusty matte surface of make-up, a light dusting applied by the confectioner, glitterin...