30 Jan
Ever wondered how a city or town gets its name? Places get their names from histories, geographies, and relentless change. For example, several Indian towns and cities have frequently changed names in order to reflect different perspectives. And in the UK, place-names are how invading armies – Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Norsemen & Vikings left their indelible […]
23 Jan
Success is a popular term. It is also a nuanced one; as much a personal definition, as a cultural construct. The word is derived from the Latin successus, which comes from the verb succedere – come close after. The question hidden in the word’s etymology then is – to come close after what? A lot […]
17 Jan
Claudia Vulliamy, an 18-year old from London, applied to study Classics at Wadham College, one of Oxford University’s 38 constituent colleges. If accepted, she would have started her course in September. But, with more than 24000 applications for approximately 3200 seats, Oxford proved a tough sell. And her application was rejected. What she did next […]
16 Jan
In this Word Nerd, we are talking about balls, because, apparently, we talk about balls a lot! And not just in the context of sports. It is a common metaphor in politics, business, or any kind of conversation. Not surprising, given that humans have been preoccupied with balls for millennia. There are handball drawings on […]
13 Jan
Ranked 39th in the US, Northeastern University is a great place to study. I study Computer Science as a graduate student. I joined in Spring 2016. University Coming from a non-computers background, I found the first semester real challenging. We spent a lot of hours in the library. The lecturers and Teaching Assistants are helpful […]
10 Jan
During my first year of college, I went on a trip with a group of other classmates to New York City to network with alumni. At the end of the day, after spending hours going from one company to the next, several of the students talked about hanging out in the city for a while […]
9 Jan
We at BrainGain Magazine believe there is some good in the worst of us. But we also understand that there are limits to human patience. We all suffer moments when we want to gnash our teeth and cuss someone out, but we often refrain from doing so due to notions of decorum. Now there’s a […]
6 Jan
Oxford’s libraries are among the most celebrated in the world for their incomparable collections of books and manuscripts. The main research library which lends the entire group its name is the Bodleian Library. The group includes research libraries, faculty libraries, as well as those attached to the departments and other institutions of the University, and […]
2 Jan
In our Word Nerd blogs last year, we’ve talked about words to use, as well as how and why. For 2017, we start by sharing a list of words that ought to be banned, according to popular opinion. Every year, since 1976, the Lake Superior State University has been publishing the “List of Words Banished […]