YIS TOK

"In the Global Language Network (GLN) each node represents a language and links connect languages that are likely to be co-spoken. In the example above, languages are connected according to the frequency of book translations. Node sizes represent the number of native and non-native speakers of a language and edge thickness represents the number of translations from one language to another"

"Right-wing political forces in Japan, encouraged by the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, are waging a campaign of intimidation to deny the disgraceful chapter in World War II when the Japanese military forced thousands of women to serve in wartime brothels. Many mainstream Japanese scholars and most non-Japanese researchers have established as historical fact that the program allowed Japanese soldiers to sexually abuse women across the Asian warfront - based on widespread testimony from the "comfort women." Now a political effort to treat these events as wholesale lies concocted by Japan's wartime enemies is gaining traction, with revisionists trying to roll back the government's 1993 apology for the coercion of women into prostitution. The Abe government, intent on stoking nationalistic fervor, was rebuffed earlier this year in its effort to have revisions made to a 1996 United Nations human rights report on the women Japan forced into sex slavery. But, at home, the right wing continues to hammer away at The Asahi Shimbun newspaper, seizing on the paper's retractions of articles published in the 1980s and 1990s that turned on limited aspects of its coverage to deny the larger historical truth of the "comfort women" program."

"Using examples from vacations to colonoscopies, Nobel laureate and founder of behavioral economics Daniel Kahneman reveals how our "experiencing selves" and our "remembering selves" perceive happiness differently. This new insight has profound implications for economics, public policy - and our own self-awareness."

"This is a powerful example of how our biases can blind us. But not in the way Dr. Tyson thought. Mr. Bush wasn't blinded by religious bigotry. Instead, Dr. Tyson was fooled by his faith in the accuracy of his own memory."

"Autism is a poorly-understood neurological disorder that can impair an individual's ability to engage in various social interactions. But little 5-year-old Iris Grace in the UK is an excellent example of the unexpected gifts that autism can also grant - her exceptional focus and attention to detail have helped her create incredibly beautiful paintings that many of her fans (and buyers) have likened to Monet's works. Little Iris is slowly learning to speak, whereas most children have already begun to speak at least a few words by age 2. Along with speech therapy, her parents gradually introduced her to painting, which is when they discovered her amazing talent."

"The journalists at Charlie Hebdo are now rightly being celebrated as martyrs on behalf of freedom of expression, but let's face it: If they had tried to publish their satirical newspaper on any American university campus over the last two decades it wouldn't have lasted 30 seconds. Student and faculty groups would have accused them of hate speech. The administration would have cut financing and shut them down. Public reaction to the attack in Paris has revealed that there are a lot of people who are quick to lionize those who offend the views of Islamist terrorists in France but who are a lot less tolerant toward those who offend their own views at home."

"Illustrator Anjana Iyer created these lovely designs for her 100 Days Project. She's accepting commissions, and on the strength of this she must get a lot… "

"The German language is so perfectly suited for these syndromes, coming down with them in any other language just won't do."

"I posted about the attack on the French magazine Charlie Hebdo on Facebook and offered my condolences to the victims and their families. I spent the next 24 hours moderating comments, at first arguing with people who were quoting the Qur'an, then wholesale deleting comments and banning users. Most of them were trolling the trending topic and commenting on my page for the first time. There seems to be a small army of hate-filled anti-Islam racists ready and eager to turn this tragedy into their personal platform for why all Muslims should be (take your pick): shipped back home, eradicated, banned from immigrating or stripped of their religion. "

"France is emerging from one of its worst security crises in decades after three days of attacks by gunmen brought bloodshed to the capital Paris and its surrounding areas. It began with a massacre at the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday 7 January and ended with a huge police operation and two sieges two days later. Here is what we know about how events unfolded"

"Mehdi Hasan - Islam Is A Peaceful Religion Debate In Oxford University"