How We Got To: The Smart Fridge From Francis Bacon to the Large Hadron Collider.

    Scientists Like Me Are Studying Your Tweets–Are You OK With That? As researchers, we have a responsibility to acknowledge that factors like the type of data, the creator of that data, and our intended use for the data are important when it comes to using public information.

    Sartorial: A Reading List A crash course in how science and technology is changing how we express ourselves through style.

    It’s Time For a New Kind of Power Fantasy Games can–and must–offer different definitions of fantasy, including fantasies of safety and peace.

    Let Robots Handle Your Emotional Burnout at Work But as robotics and computing evolve, some researchers foresee a future where technology can relieve the long-held emotional burden of some of these professions. They think we owe it to the service workforce to offer a new frontline of robotic protection. In fact, they think it’s far overdue–but does that actually mean just automating these jobs away?

    To Board a Cruise Ship–and Never Get Off Meet the retirees who never stop moving.

    The Human Machine

    A series about the increasingly blurred lines between us and our machines.
    Ian Steadman
    Aug 23, 2017
    A vast stack of containers on a ship

    Postcards From a Supply Chain

    A series that traces consumer goods back through the global shipping system to their source.
    Dan Williams
    Jan 21, 2015

    The ID Question

    Who decides who you are? You, or the world around you?
    Anjali Ramachandran
    Nov 22, 2017

    Beats: Space

    Space is where we project our dreams–and our nightmares–of the future.

    Beats: Food

    Food structures our day, and food systems shape our world

    Beats: Disability

    “Disable” is an active verb, and disability describes the social and environmental barriers that prevent access just as much as an individual body’s physical reality.

    Beats: Health

    Access to health care is as much a matter of public policy as it is the size of a person’s pocketbook; within a doctor’s office, many factors affect the quality of treatment.

    In GIFS: How a Mars Colony Would Work

    To suggest that space is a harsh environment is an understatement. It’s a place of extreme and unusual temperatures, unpleasant atmospheric toxins, and it’s lacking in the resources to which humanity has become accustomed. Actually, doesn’t that sound a bit familiar? Planet Earth can be a harsh environment, too. The fundamentals needed to support life–air, […]
    Joe Iles
    Aug 26, 2016 2 min read

    For Refugees, Soccer Helps Pass an Eternity in Limbo

    For refugees without anchors in their new societies, or who are fleeing broken families and societies, the soccer field offers a place where they can easily locate a new social identity in a foreign setting.
    Sabrina Toppa
    Jul 28, 2016 9 min read

    What Cities Can Do With a Lot of Snow

    Dragons, castles, and dumping at sea.
    Duncan Geere
    Feb 18, 2015 2 min read