Tag Archives: US

Word Nerd: 5 forms of poetry that you must explore

28 Jan

 There is no question that Amanda Gorman, with her elegant and measured performance of ‘The Hill We Climb’, headlined the Presidential inauguration. We were all moved by her words & mesmerised by her rhythmic gestures. And, one of the sections that cheered the loudest were those who are interested in reading, practicing, and publishing […]

Word Nerd: An English-speaker’s guide to funny Americanisms

25 Sep

By now, many Americanisms have crept into English around the world, thanks to pop culture and Microsoft Word. Perhaps you say ‘restroom’ for ‘toilet’. Or you may be one of those people who say ‘from left field’ even though they’ve never played baseball. And you probably know that a ‘cheeseburger’ is a mere shadow of […]

Two weeks that changed my life completely

20 Sep

Fifteen-year-old Parthsarthi Suri is a student at the Emirates International School – Jumeirah, in Dubai, UAE. He participated in the Knowledge@Wharton High School Global Young Leaders Academy at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, in the summer of 2017. Here’s what he had to say about the experience. I have often heard this famous quote […]

How a summer program made me fall in love with a university

31 Aug

I must admit, when I first signed up for the Knowledge@Wharton High School Global Young Leaders Academy (GYLA) at the University of Pennsylvania, I wasn’t expecting to make any serious, long-term connections with anybody there. Quite honestly, I didn’t know what to expect from the program. Given that GYLA is an international program, I knew […]

Why I worry about President Trump’s exit from the Paris Agreement

15 Jun

It is no secret that the global environment scenario faced a massive setback earlier in June. Apparently, the US president thinks that his responsibility as a leader doesn’t extend beyond the boundaries of his own nation. While talking about his decision to go against international well-being for “national good” President Trump said, “I am the […]

Advice from a girl who worked hard and got to choose between an Ivy League offer and a full scholarship

5 May

I remember bringing home my grade sheets when I was 12, and seeing the disappointment on my parents’ faces. They never explicitly said that they wanted me to achieve higher results, yet I could tell. They wouldn’t congratulate me, or smile and say ‘well done!’ I knew I wasn’t the best in my grade, and […]

With no date, girl who got into 7 Ivy League schools takes Harvard acceptance letter to prom

2 May

American teenager Priscilla Samey got into seven Ivy League schools, but couldn’t find a date for the senior prom. Instead of being disheartened, the 17-year-old took her acceptance letter from Harvard University to the dance. Last Saturday, she tweeted this picture with the message, “Couldn’t find a man to accept me for prom so I […]

In which comedian Jimmy Fallon is discombobulated by robots

28 Apr

Watch artificial intelligence – the cutting edge of engineering – live up to its creepy image, as comedian and ‘The Tonight Show’ host Jimmy Fallon apprehensively lets a snakebot climb his leg, has a super-awkward conversation with the placid android Sophia, and gets all butterfingered with an expensive butterfly bot. The snakebot, developed at Carnegie […]

How nerdy can the Mannequin Challenge get? This lab has it down to a science

20 Dec

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), a US government-funded research facility, recently issued a serious challenge to other research units: can they beat the nerd quotient of their amazing mannequin challenge? Established by the University of California in 1952, LLNL is a government-funded research and development facility that focuses on national security, especially nuclear weapons. […]

Word Nerd: Is Your Autumn Mellow or Macabre?

26 Sep

Hit the average litterateur with the word autumn, and instead of stars, John Keats’ lines will swim before his or her eyes. And certainly, autumn is a “season of mists”, of “mellow fruitfulness”, of the “maturing sun” and other warm and romantic fantasies. But it is also a season of cooler air, longer nights and […]