Study suggests Dante's Hell was inspired by an asteroid impact

Dr. Jaroslav Boublik — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 23:40:31 GMT

New research is offering a dramatic new way to read Dante Alighieri’s Inferno: not simply as a religious vision of Hell, but as an early attempt to imagine the effects of a catastrophic planetary impact.

Category: Astronomy, Science

Tags: Asteroid, Impact, Poetry, dante

University of Sheffield fights pollution with poetry

David Szondy — Mon, 19 May 2014 05:31:40 GMT

Air pollution is a problem in many of the world’s major cities and removing it requires 24/7 solutions, as well as a bit of imagination. Taking a literary run at the task, the University of Sheffield has revealed what it calls the “world’s first air-cleansing poem,” which is a combination of a new work by award-winning writer Simon Armitage and a chemical formula developed at Sheffield by Professor Tony Ryan. Like the Peru's recently installed air-purifying billboard, the project aims to help raise awareness about air pollution, as well as to help persuade British industry to adopt the air-cleansing technology more widely.

Category: Environment, Science

Tags: University of Sheffield, Pollution, Poetry