A lab in California has achieved a historic breakthrough in nuclear fusion. Three new species from the post-dinosaur mammalian revolution have been identified, including one that’s been named after a Hobbit character. And re…
Inside the world of the quasi-secret WhatsApp mango economy. It turns out Saturn is kind of jiggly inside. And the beginning of a season, marked by the end of an era for department stores.
How one of the earliest bloggers predicted the dark side of the internet, and then went completely off the grid. Plus, the first tribally-affiliated medical school, on tribal land, in the US. is bridging gaps. And Yik Yak is…
The groundbreaking study that has basically given us a daily diary of the entire life of a 17,000 year old woolly mammoth. Why coffee prices are spiking. And a ransom scam targeting authors that says a lot about the state of…
How does a kid’s network establish their brand identity? Apparently, riff on a high brow architectural style and add heaping amounts of radioactive green slime. On the 30th anniversary of the first Nicktoons, a look back at …
Robin has officially come out of the closet. No statement yet from Batman, but I do have the other details, and a brief history of LGBTQ+ superheroes. Plus, SpaceX is planning to put billboards in space. And plastic pollutio…
Why are CAPTCHA’s so frustrating and, in a way, so grim and disconcerting? Plus, botanists have identified the first carnivorous plant in twenty years, but don’t go calling it Audrey III just yet. And, a new development in t…
Some context and takeaways from the big UN climate report released this morning. NASA has opened applications for their Mars simulation mission. And why are some people in Japan sending bags of rice with their baby’s face on…
What are forest schools? And the science behind why gardening can make you feel happy and peaceful. Plus, the Perseid meteor shower is happening in just a few days. And the co-creator of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine has be…
As the tides trend toward requiring vaccinations for entry in more places, what is the landscape of apps and methods to verify vaccination status? Plus, meatball-scented candles from IKEA and two very different commercial sp…
The six countries most likely to survive all-out societal collapse from climate change. Why is snow on the Alps turning red? And a website that will transport you back to sleepy nights in front of the TV in the early 2000s.
Edgar Allan Poe wasn’t just the sad author of spooky tales we all know and love, but also a passionate science journalist, and the writings he left behind can tell us a lot about our current relationship to misinformation an…
What makes an Olympic sport an Olympic sport? And what does it take to get cut from the lineup? Namely, why is baseball getting cut once again in 2024, but breakdancing will make its Olympic debut? A breakdown of how it work…
I read a BuzzFeed article about virality and go on a rant about the creator economy. PornHub has a new campaign to help bolster museum tourism. And we may have found a fingerprint from Michelangelo… on a statue’s butt.
Why it could take you months to get a new sofa. Kids are trying to get out of class by using soda to fake positive COVID tests. And how to reinvigorate your health with a “microadventure.”
How a task force prevented the COVID-19 vaccines from being hacked because, yes, that was a real and valid concern. Plus, the sometimes controversial history of timekeeping at the Olympics and the AI-based innovations introd…
The history and future of billboard advertising. The surprisingly big challenge of recycling bowling balls. And the YouTube Creator who just got hired by Lucasfilm.
A look back at when the Olympics used to give out medals in artistic categories, including the designing of Olympic medals, and the case for why they should bring that back this year in particular. Plus, some more background…
Rounding errors may cause winners to become losers and losers winners, Bezos and James Webb both fall to Earth, and beyond lobster shortages, now crabs.
Your payments for dog walking and, er, “love hotels” via Venmo are now no longer subject to global scrutiny, neutron stars have wee tiny mountains, smaller than predicted, pool parties by the hour via Swimply, and former Col…
How did paper sizes fall into their century-long groove, how low-wage workers seem to have the upper hand in the job market despite pandemic job losses, and the very newest, freshest words are in.
Was the Chinese seed scare of mid-2020 just a matter of delayed orders and pandemic memory? The Ever Green clogging the Suez Canal is probably a sign of things to come, not a one-off accident. And Wally Funk returns from spa…
Coca-Cola brings your dead taste buds back to life with a new Coke Zero formulation that probably definitely certainly won’t produce a New Coke outrage, Olympic athletes can perform team gymnastics on the beds provided in Ja…
The flood of robocalls may soon abate due to a technology named after James Bond’s martini instructions to bartenders, an ethical debate over whether we can revive the dead’s voices to simulate what they said or wrote in lif…