In 1996 physicist Alan Sokal submitted a paper to the cultural-studies journal Social Text titled "Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity". It was deliberately nonsense, proposing that quantum gravity is a social and linguistic construct, written to sound good and flatter the editors' ideological preconceptions. The journal, which did not use outside peer review by scientists, published it. Three weeks later Sokal revealed the hoax in Lingua Franca. The affair sparked a debate about rigour in the humanities, postmodernism, and the ethics of the deception.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.