New Guinea long-distance trade local exchanges cultural practices

Goods traveled farther than people did

On New Guinea, goods passed through chains of local exchanges and traveled long distances, even though people rarely traveled far along the trade routes. Cultural practices likely spread through these networks as well.

Ancient Iranian readers pronounced words different from those written

Some texts written in Pahlavi scripts used written Aramaic words as symbols for Iranian words. A reader might see an Aramaic form but pronounce its Middle Persian equivalent. These spellings, called heterograms, worked somewhat like reading the symbol '&' aloud as 'and'. A writing system can preserve words from one language while being read in another.

The Congo has enormous hydropower potential while millions lack electricity

~100 GW potential

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has one of the world's largest untapped hydropower resources, especially along the Congo River. Estimates place its theoretical potential near 100 gigawatts, enough to support electricity generation on a vast scale. Yet much of the country's population still lacks reliable power. Turning river potential into electricity requires dams, transmission networks, financing and regional cooperation.

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New Guinea long-distance trade local exchanges cultural practices

Goods traveled farther than people did

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