September 30, 2021 Fire Festivals: Up Helly Aa Europe’s biggest fire festival lights up Shetland in the new year. What is it? Up Helly Aa is one of numerous fire festivals that ... Read more
August 11, 2021 Fireflies in Japanese Art Fireflies are especially beloved in Japan, where they’ve provided a rich source of art Drab brown beetles by day and captivating spar ... Read more
August 3, 2021 Fire Myths: Prometheus The famous figure of Greek myth stole fire from the gods and gave it to man Who is he? In Greek mythology, Prometheus is a Titan god of fir ... Read more
July 28, 2021 The Five Most Inspiring Olympic Torches The Olympic torch is rich in symbolism – and its design always generates headlines. Some are more successful than others: here are five that ... Read more
July 23, 2021 A Brief History of the Olympic Flame As the thirty-second Olympiad kicks off in Tokyo today, after a year’s delay, we look back at the history of the Olympic flame – an ins ... Read more
July 19, 2021 A Brief History of Smoke Signals From the Great Wall of China to Ancient Greece, smoke signals were one of the earliest forms of visual communication – a fascinating medium ... Read more
July 15, 2021 Chinese Burns: Moxibustion, Cupping’s Less Famous Cousin The lesser-known form of traditional Chinese medicine is often used in breech births. Many of us are now familiar with cupping: placing glas ... Read more
July 12, 2021 Fire Myths: The Firebird In Slavic folklore and myth, this supernatural spirit can bring doom or blessing to its captor. What is it? The Firebird, which appears in n ... Read more
July 8, 2021 Welcome to the Pyrocene: Interview with Stephen Pyne An emeritus professor at Arizona State University, Stephen Pyne specialises in environmental history, the history of exploration and – above ... Read more
July 5, 2021 A Brief History of Fireplace TV Videos of roaring fireplaces have gone viral in the past decade, but the peculiar phenomenon of fake fire television dates back far longer. ... Read more
July 1, 2021 Fire Myths: The Chimera This enduring Greek myth involves a fearsome female fire-breathing hybrid beast. What is it? The Chimera (‘she-goat’ in Ancient Greek) is a ... Read more
June 28, 2021 The Art of Fire: Yves Klein As much as a certain shade of blue, fire was aesthetic perfection for the artist Yves Klein. In 1961, a year before his death, he travelled ... Read more