The Most Subversive Way to Travel Perhaps the humble bicycle, a transportation mode that puts people in contact with one another and gives them back that control they seem to crave, offers a unique opportunity to remake those realities for the better.

    The Boundaries of Artificial Emotional Intelligence If our virtual assistants and emotional laborers are all turning out to be soothing, female-voiced AI, will it close certain gaps for human women? Or will it ratify them?

    Why You Should Be Eating Jellyfish to Save the Oceans Human disruption of the oceans is killing fish and leaving jellyfish to rule supreme. Could we make amends by adding them to our menus? Are you at least willing to take a bite, and try the taste?

    How to Dress for Ultimate Privacy In the age of surveillance, achieving invisibility through fashion isn’t a futuristic idea–it’s already possible.

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

    The Roots of an Epidemic From apartheid labor policies to everyday sexism, socio-political issues influence the spread of TB disease and the effectiveness of health responses. To tackle the epidemic, we need systemic changes.

    The Roots of an Epidemic

    From apartheid labor policies to everyday sexism, socio-political issues influence the spread of TB disease and the effectiveness of health responses. To tackle the epidemic, we need systemic changes.
    Paula Akugizibwe
    Apr 11, 2019

    Breaking the Cycle

    The future of reproductive health in India, from early ideas about population control to on-the-ground interventions happening now, to a world where men and women share contraceptive responsibility.
    Hannah Harris Green
    Sep 26, 2018
    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

    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.

    Is Gender Segregation in Sports Necessary?

    Examining not just the science of gender segregation in sport, but the social cost as well.
    Alice Sanders
    Jul 14, 2016 7 min read
    A still from a James Bond movie showing the evil villain Blofeld stroking his cat, but the image is edited so that Blofeld is wearing a ring with the Facebook logo.

    The Real Villains of the Tech Industry

    The “Who, us? We’re just a tech company/public square/conduit for your conversations” line of deflection is echoed up and down the org charts of Silicon Valley.
    Elizabeth Minkel
    Mar 22, 2018 3 min read

    AI’s Seismic Shift From Elephants To Ants

    How attempts to mimic the behavior of insects transformed artificial intelligence in the 1990s.
    Richard Baguley
    Oct 21, 2015 4 min read