The Curiosity Gap Content

How Do Pilgrimage Sites Arise?

Jamie Sara Gelfond — March 04, 2025 - 8:12am

Pilgrimages are ubiquitous across all major world religions. From the Kumbh Mela, a Hindu festival on the banks of India’s Ganges River, to Mecca, the birthplace of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, millions of people travel to various sites across the globe to engage in rituals and connect with their faith.

How Does Investment in Black Communities Help Everyone?

Karen Michele Nikos — February 21, 2025 - 9:50am

This story is part of California Voices, a commentary forum aiming to broaden our understanding of the state and spotlight Californians directly impacted by policy or its absence. Learn more here.

What is Birthright Citizenship?

Jamie Sara Gelfond — February 21, 2025 - 9:21am

Gregory Downs, a constitutional scholar and professor of history in the College of Lette

Is There Too Much Administrative Burden in Accessing SNAP and WIC Benefits?

Jamie Sara Gelfond — February 06, 2025 - 2:35am

In a recent study done by �ٺ��Ƶ professors Marianne Bitler and Seojung Oh as well as University of Utah professors Jason Cook and Paige Rowberry, evidence was found of a new form of benefit redemption cycle in Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), different from that seen with Food Stamps.

How Does Kumbh Mela Connect India's Present to its Past?

Karen Michele Nikos — January 16, 2025 - 10:23am

People from all walks of life in India are now gathering for the Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, on the banks of the Ganges River where it meets and mixes with the water of the Yamuna and Sarasvati. The Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, which takes place every 12 years, and is the largest, pulls together multiple strands of India’s deep cultural past and its status today as the second-most populous nation in the world with international influence and ambition to reach for the stars.

The Conversation: Why Does Red Wine Cause Headaches?

Karen Michele Nikos — December 18, 2024 - 11:16am

Medical accounts of red wine headaches go back to Roman times, but the experience is likely as old as winemaking – something like 10,000 years. As chemists specializing in winemaking, we wanted to try to figure out the source of these headaches.

Is the '27 Club' Real? Researcher Looks at Myths That Endure

Karen Michele Nikos — November 21, 2024 - 2:39pm

The 27 Club isn’t true, but it is real − a sociologist explains why myths endure and how they shape reality

Game Over? How Customers Respond When Mobile Banking App Rewards Go Dark

Jamie Sara Gelfond — October 25, 2024 - 12:14pm

Companies have started the process of gamifying a large variety of products, even mobile banking apps. In a recent study, in collaboration with Flourish Fi, researchers looked at what happens when a rewards program is stopped as well as if consumers continue or stop incentivized behaviors was investigated. More specifically, the use of gamification to encourage adoption of digital financial services was examined.

What Motivates Food Bank Donors?

Jamie Sara Gelfond — October 11, 2024 - 2:23am

In a recent study involving �ٺ��Ƶ Professor of Human Ecology Catherine Brinkley, 2.97 millions pounds of food-bank donations from 296 organizations were analyzed to understand the dependencies between community food security and local food movements.

What Does it Mean To Own Something?

Karen Michele Nikos — September 06, 2024 - 3:30pm

For most of his adolescence, Gerardo Con Diaz viewed the world through the prism of mathematics. He excelled at numbers and computation, winning mathematics competitions while growing up in Costa Rica and later majoring in the subject while studying at Harvard University. He was enroute to a mathematics career, but something was off.

“There was this nagging sensation that there might be a path I hadn’t considered,” Diaz recalled.