G’s that look like I’s, F’s that sound like “Waw,” and Q’s that look like monkeys — man, was our alphabet a mess. That’s because many of our letters began as Egyptian hieroglyph symbols 4,000 years ...

Benjamin Franklin was many things. Politician, scientist, inventor, printer author, he was a visionary whose ideas helped shape America. But he also had some notions that, while founded on sound logic ...

A, B, C, D, E, F, G – makes you want to hum the alphabet song. But there’s no real reason why people should learn these letters in this order. There are plenty of ...

From my perspective, there’s almost nothing more thrilling than learning to use a new writing system. You’re gaining access to a whole secret code that many others cannot penetrate. The romance of ...

Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com. Who created ...