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.

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

    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?

    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.

    Was Gamification a Terrible Lie? Turning work into play was sold as a miracle for increasing productivity–but was that ever really plausible?

    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.

    A Noxious Problem

    Smog in cities and smoke in the home cause a huge range of short- and long-term health conditions. Why is the world’s biggest public health crisis only getting worse?
    How We Get To Next
    Oct 24, 2018

    Isla del Encanto

    Puerto Ricans have always found opportunity in the limits placed upon them. Exploring the island’s agricultural future–from community gardens to research hubs, bakers to growers to distillers.
    Alicia Kennedy
    Apr 16, 2019
    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.

    Who’s to Blame When a Therapy Bot Goes Wrong?

    Deploying bots in a medical setting demands a whole new ethical framework.
    Natalie Kane
    May 19, 2016 5 min read

    When Charts Go Weird: The Joy of Xenographics

    Xenographics can be fun alternatives to the classic bar, line, and pie chart trio–but they can also be more effective for certain kinds of data.
    Duncan Geere
    May 17, 2018 2 min read

    Making the “Clean” Episode of How We Got To Now

    Steven Johnson explains how the show was put together
    Matt Locke
    Oct 15, 2014 2 min read