Recent research from the Literacy Trust has indicated that children’s interest in and enjoyment of reading increased during lockdown.

Frances Hodgson Burnett’s 1911 children’s book The Secret Garden has once again been adapted for the screen. Critics have noted that the film about a healing garden has come just at the right time, with The Telegraph calling it “a sparkling COVID antidote”.

After the October 7, 2020, vice-presidential debate in the United States, the fly that landed on Vice-President Mike Pence’s head was more of a sensation than the details of the debate — at least on social media.

John Lennon was acutely aware of his place in the musical lineage, and the strengths and weaknesses of his own songwriting.

During times of crisis, people find themselves faced with lifestyle changes. One of the earliest and most noticeable changes seen during the COVID-19 lockdown was how we consume media — and especially how we read.

Research suggests that as you learn or regularly use a second language, it becomes constantly “active” alongside your native language in your brain. To enable communication, your brain has to select one language and inhibit the other.

Up to 90% of brain development occurs in the first five years of life. Early learning matters, and creates a solid foundation for future development.

“Show business”, Helen Reddy once said, “was the only business that allowed you to earn the same salary as a man and to keep your name”.

People who retire early suffer from accelerated cognitive decline and may even encounter early onset of dementia, according to a new economic study I conducted with my doctoral student Alan Adelman.

As universities have reopened in various ways this fall after spring COVID-19 closures and a rapid move to online learning, new challenges are emerging.

Masks have emerged as unlikely fashion heroes as the COVID-19 pandemic has developed. Every conceivable colour and pattern seems to have become available, from facehuggers to Darth Vader to bejewelled bridal numbers.

Madam C.J. Walker, born Sarah Breedlove, was America’s first female self-mademillionaire. She pioneered a line of hair care and beauty products for people of color early in the 20th century, and the recent Netflix series “Self Made” details the story of this talented innovator and the challenges she overcame on the way to her success.

“A wedding gown represents far more than just a dress. It is also the embodiment of a dream,” said Vera Wang.

During lockdown, travel was not only a distant dream, it was unlawful. Some even predicted that how we travel would change forever.

Handwritten notes are a powerful tool for encrypting embodied cognition and in turn supporting the brain’s capacity for retrieval of information.

On Sunday, August 16 2020, the first major cruise ship to take to the Mediterranean in almost five months sailed out of the Italian city of Genoa.

One hundred and fifty years after Maria Montessori’s birth, tens of thousands of teachers around the world still hail her innovations and educational philosophy.

On April 16 1872, a group of men sat drinking in the Barley Mow pub near Wellington in Somerset in the UK’s south-west. A gust of wind in the chimney dislodged four onions with paper attached to them with pins. On each piece of paper, a name was written.

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, cities around the world are rediscovering the value of walkable and bikeable streets.

There’s a saying that everyone has a book inside them. While I don’t know if that’s true, I do believe that everyone has something special to offer the world. Sadly, most people keep their gift hidden, even from themselves, and there are many reasons why this happens.

We rarely associate youth literature with existential crises, yet Canada’s youth literature offers powerful examples for coping with cultural upheaval.

This singling out of comedy clubs once again brings into focus the disdain that the ACE has displayed for standup in the past and means now is the perfect time to reassess standup comedy as art.

Netflix’s new series Cursed, based on the illustrated novel by Frank Miller and Tom Wheeler, is a retelling of the Arthurian legend – but like none you have seen before.