OUPblog
The blog of Oxford University Press, with articles by authors on science, language, history, philosophy, and culture.
What HN says
HN links it for general-interest explainers, like a piece on eating more DNA and word etymologies, and for context on topics like archive theft.
Stats for nerds
91HN people shared it
67linked in comments
593story points
May 2026last shared
Top posts on HN
- 1Sentence Structure for Writers (2017)1 person · 84 points · first shared 2024 · 35 comments on HN
- 2Theories on the etymology of 'strawberry'1 person · 67 points · first shared 2016 · 64 comments on HN
- 3Ancient Greek and Egyptian Interactions1 person · 64 points · first shared 2016 · 12 comments on HN
- 4The dwarfs of our vocabulary1 person · 60 points · first shared 2017 · 16 comments on HN
- 5The Problem of Colour1 person · 58 points · first shared 2017 · 78 comments on HN
- 6Alzheimer's Disease and Musical Memory2 people · 49 points · first shared 2015 · 10 comments on HN
- 7Ian Fleming and American intelligence (Part 1) (2011)1 person · 28 points · first shared 2021 · 10 comments on HN
- 8Really big numbers1 person · 26 points · first shared 2017 · 19 comments on HN
- 9The sense and essence of smell1 person · 19 points · first shared 2019 · Discussion on HN
- 10The building blocks of ornithology1 person · 10 points · first shared 2017 · Discussion on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
- jychangJun 2023
Strong disagree.
https://blog.oup.com/2016/11/evolution-human-memory/
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-gps-weakens-m...
Navigation memory is the most core type of memory- most other forms of memory evolved later. There’s a reason why GPS usage is correlated with dementia. Human memory actually evolved out of a sense of navigation.I strongly agree with the commentator who likened the hierarchal folder structure to the physical world, it’s a much more direct mapping of how human memory actually works.
Humans aren’t actually magical AI computers of energy floating in midair, they’re made of physical meat. Even if some abstract concepts (like tags) may make more theoretical sense (I agree with people who say that certain things can be classified in 2 different locations), it may not play to the actual structure and advantages of the human brain.
- shakilFeb 2017
Work environments aren't meant to be a forum to discuss politically sensitive topics. Would you be able to discuss abortion rights or gay marriage at work? Then why is it so problematic if honor killings are a taboo topic?
Also, what is your interest in honor killings, as opposed to say gun violence? Are more people being killed because of this barbaric custom, or is it because that's what the media and all Islamophobes love to bring up during any discussion of Islam? If you really wanted to educate yourself on the topic you would have easily found a source [1] with contrary information but that would burst the media bubble we are surrounded by in this country[1] https://blog.oup.com/2014/07/five-important-facts-about-honor-killings/
- thelastgallonMay 2026
Yes, perfectly okay for large companies for billionaires. As long its structured as a corporation, with the super wealthy as the majority owners, have the connections to get federal laws passed to grant monopolies and enable congress insider trading, everything is okay!
Some examples, there are probably hundreds more:
1) Its okay for pharma companies to provide addictive drugs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sackler_family
2) Coke can use cocaine, or coca leaves, but no one else: https://blog.oup.com/2014/03/coke-cocaine-coca-cola-capitalism-business-strategy/
3) This one is hilarious and an ingenious innovation by current administration -- Ban on CBDC, locking out Fed Govt from providing crypto alternatives
- renaudgJan 2020
You're just focusing on the wrong metric.
Because coal is so bad in terms of carbon intensity (800 gCO2/kwH), Germany's greenhouse gas emissions figures are still terrible on average.
"Why Aren't Renewables Decreasing Germany's Carbon Emissions?" https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2017/10/10/why-arent-renewables-decreasing-germanys-carbon-emissions/
"Why solar and wind won’t make much difference to carbon dioxide emissions" https://blog.oup.com/2017/10/solar-wind-energy-carbon-dioxide-emissions/
"German electricity was nearly 10 times dirtier than France's in 2016" http://environmentalprogress.org/big-news/2017/2/11/german-electricity-was-nearly-10-times-dirtier-than-frances-in-2016
- danansMay 2019
> For example, sound [k] changed to [h] from Latin to Germanic, and the Latin word casa transformed into the English house.
The way this is written is incorrect. German is not a daughter of Latin, and the word "house" has a fully understood old Germanic origin [1].
Borrowings from Latin to German starting with the hard c sound retain that sound.
The relationship between the old Germanic and old Latin is that of cousins. The various Proto-Indo-European "k" sounds became "h" in Germanic and retained their "k" pronunciation in Latin.
i.e.
English PIE Latin
hound kyon canis
who kwo- qui
1. https://blog.oup.com/2015/01/house-word-origin-etymology/
- steve-howardOct 2015
Found a broader discussion of archive theft here for those interested: http://blog.oup.com/2012/08/difficulty-inside-book-archive-theft-girolamini-library/
The basic challenge for the thief is finding something valuable enough to be worth selling, but not so valuable it's obviously hot. Then make sure there are no records it existed (in this case it appears the catalog didn't include the letters) and find somebody trustworthy to sell it to.
I have to agree that the best approach would be to digitize as much as possible, but that might or might not be a tall order for the institutions in question.