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How different cultures perceive, think, and shape the human experience
Across every continent and throughout all of history, human beings have found astonishingly different ways to make sense of the same world. We speak thousands of languages, count in different bases, mark time by different calendars, and laugh at entirely different things. Yet beneath this dazzling diversity lies a shared humanity — universal instincts for music, storytelling, and connection that bind us together. Exploring the world's cultures is not just about cataloguing differences; it is about discovering what it truly means to be human.
"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page."
— Saint Augustine
8 Curiosities
Of the roughly 7,000 languages spoken today, about 40% are endangered. Linguists estimate that half of them will be extinct by 2100, and with each language lost, unique knowledge systems, oral histories, and ways of understanding the world vanish forever.
Source: UNESCO
The Aymara people of the Andes place the past in front of them and the future behind, because the past is known and therefore visible. The Kuuk Thaayorre of Australia use cardinal directions instead of left and right, saying things like "move your cup to the north-northwest a little bit."
Source: Cognitive Science
Language shapes color perception in measurable ways. Russian distinguishes between light blue (goluboy) and dark blue (siniy), and speakers are faster at discriminating between them. The Himba people of Namibia can easily distinguish between shades of green that look identical to most Westerners, yet struggle to separate blue from green.
Source: PNAS
A landmark 2019 study spanning 315 cultures found striking universals: lullabies sound soothing everywhere, dance music features strong, regular beats across all societies, and healing songs share common acoustic properties worldwide. Music appears to be a fundamental human behaviour, not merely a cultural invention.
Source: Science journal
Japanese humour tends toward subtle, self-deprecating wit. British comedy thrives on irony and understatement. German humour often revolves around logical absurdity. Yet physical comedy — slipping on a banana peel, a well-timed pratfall — works everywhere, suggesting a deep evolutionary root to certain kinds of laughter.
Source: Psychological Science
Scholars have documented roughly 300 writing systems throughout history, of which about 100 are still in active use today. They range across alphabets, abjads (consonant-only scripts like Arabic), syllabaries (like Japanese kana), and logographic systems (like Chinese characters) — each reflecting a unique approach to turning thought into visible marks.
Source: World's Writing Systems
The Maya used base-20, counting fingers and toes. The Babylonians used base-60, which is why we still have 60 seconds in a minute and 360 degrees in a circle. Some languages in Papua New Guinea use base-27, counting body parts from fingers up one arm, across the face, and down the other arm.
Source: Mathematics History
Ethiopia's calendar runs 7-8 years behind the Gregorian calendar and has 13 months. Iran uses the Solar Hijri calendar, one of the most astronomically accurate in the world. Israel follows the Hebrew calendar, currently in the 5780s. Each system reflects different religious, agricultural, and astronomical priorities — a reminder that even something as fundamental as "what year is it?" is a cultural choice.
Source: Royal Observatory Greenwich
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