24 Aug 2026
By the mid-fourteenth century, London was the largest city in England, home to perhaps 40,000 people packed within a stone wall the Romans had raised over a thousand years earlier. Time was told by church bells, since almost no one owned a clock, and each night a curfew ordered every hearth fire covered against the ever-present danger of fire in a city built of timber and straw. Streets ran narrow, made narrower by jettying, where upper storeys projected outward until they nearly touched overhead. Most craftsmen lived above their workshops and sold through a ground-floor window, so home, workshop, and shop were one building. Trade was governed by guilds that set standards, settled disputes, and helped run the city. Water was hauled from fountains or bought from carriers, and because it was rarely safe to drink, weak ale was the common drink at every meal, even for children.
England was still shaped by the Norman Conquest of 1066, which left the ruling class speaking French while common people spoke English and records were kept in Latin. Kings held land across the sea in France, and the rivalry this bred erupted in 1337 into the Hundred Years’ War, funded by heavy taxes of the kind that had earlier forced Magna Carta upon the crown in 1215. The fighting paused in 1348 when the bubonic plague arrived aboard trading ships and spread across the continent, reducing Europe’s population by between a third and a half. So few labourers remained that survivors could demand higher wages, alarming landowners enough that the king tried to force pay back down. Sanitation stayed crude, with no sewers and waste carted off by hired rakers, while London governed much of its own affairs under royal charters that protected the ancient rights of its citizens.
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14 Jun 2023
Musician and composer, Michele Mele, interviews Michelle Thaller, astronomer, research scientist, and assistant director for Science Communication at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, on the nature of love, The Big Bang, our limited perception of time and space, and how we’re all connected through Quantum Entanglement. This powerful conversation will change the way you think of linear time, and how we approach the grief and idea of loss.
Universe In A Kiss is bridging the gap between art, science, love and the cosmos. As we are all made of the same stuff of stars, Michele looks to the cosmos for explanations and analogies of human behaviour, attraction and connection. Can we explain love by the principals of the universe?
Subscribe for more thought-provoking interviews with industry leaders coming soon.
Host: Michele Mele
Director of Photography: Chris Wardle
Videographers: Vadim Korolitsky, Andy Raynor
Video Editor: Gillian Berner
Stylist: Gig Szabo
Universe In A Kiss Production Crew: Emily Tauro, Gillian Berner, Sam Kaszab
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31 Aug 2026
Discover the true history of what ancient Egyptians actually looked like, moving beyond modern political and racial debates. Explore indigenous African origins, Saharan migrations, tomb art symbolism, and surprising DNA evidence from mummies. Uncover how this rich, diverse civilization was shaped by the Nile River, connecting Africa, the Mediterranean, and Nubia.
A QUICK NOTE: To be honest, I’m not a fan of AI, but since English isn’t my native language and for a few other reasons, I figured it’s still the best tool for the job. Thanks for sticking with me!
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📚 RESEARCH & SOURCES:
Schuenemann, V. J., Peltzer, A., Welte, B., van Pelt, W. P., Molak, M., Wang, C.-C., … & Krause, J. (2017). Ancient Egyptian mummy genomes suggest an increase of Sub-Saharan African ancestry in post-Roman periods. Nature Communications, 8, Article 15694. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms15694
Diop, C. A. (1974). The African origin of civilization: Myth or reality (M. Cook, Trans.). Lawrence Hill Books. (Original work published 1955)
Hawass, Z., Gad, Y. Z., Ismail, S., Khairat, R., Fathalla, D., Hasan, N., … & Pusch, C. M. (2010). Ancestry and pathology in King Tutankhamun’s family. JAMA, 303(7), 638–647. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2010.121
Keita, S. O. Y. (2005). History in the interpretation of the pattern of p49a,f TaqI RFLP Y-chromosome variation in Egypt: A consideration of multiple lines of evidence. American Journal of Human Biology, 17(5), 559–567. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.20428
Kuper, R., & Kröpelin, S. (2006). Climate-controlled Holocene occupation in the Sahara: Motor of Africa’s evolution. Science, 313(5788), 803–807. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1130989
UNESCO. (1978). The peopling of ancient Egypt and the deciphering of Meroitic script: Proceedings of the symposium held in Cairo from 28 January to 3 February 1974. UNESCO.
Herodotus. (c. 440 BCE/2003). The histories (A. de Sélincourt, Trans.; J. Marincola, Rev.). Penguin Classics.
Smith, S. T. (2003). Wretched Kush: Ethnic identities and boundaries in Egypt’s Nubian Empire. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203380529
Jablonski, N. G. (2012). Living color: The biological and social meaning of skin color. University of California Press.
Petrie, W. M. F. (1939). The making of Egypt. Sheldon Press.
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31 Jul 2026 #AISlop #Pyramids #Egypt
AI slop is littering your feed and spreading misinformation, so WIRED’s here to set the record straight. Join Egyptologist Professor Laurel Bestock as we fact check the internet, egyptology edition.
WIRED recommends:
• We Know More About The Pyramids Than You T…
• Egyptologist Answers Ancient Egypt Questio…
• Maya Expert Answers Maya Civilization Ques…
#Egypt #Pyramids #AISlop
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