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…
It’s not mind reading, but a man’s ability to convey words is partially restored through electrodes and machine learning; NASA carefully prepares to press Control-Alt-Delete on the Hubble Space Telescope; look to the skies, …
It’s all greeked to me, some new history about the old text “lorem ipsum”; Europa may hide its secrets more deeply than previously thought; and a man happily discovers 160 bowling bowls under his house.
Archeologists dig up a massive cache of 15th century metal printing type in South Korea, a baby beaver is born in Exmoor, what if ice cream but also macaroni and cheese, a video-game breaks records and may indicate a sales b…
Houseplants became Instagram models in 2020 driving sales up by billions and overwhelming mail-order and garden-supply stores; we know a lot more about the bulbous shape of the sun’s shield against the ravages of the interst…
New findings in the debate about whether the dinosaurs were actually already in a sharp decline before the asteroid hit the Earth. A rumination on private ownership and how, by 2030, we might not own anything at all, just su…
Could lead poisoning have led to the fall of Rome? The Australian craft brewery using algae to offset their carbon emissions. And Moderna has started human trials of their mRNA flu vaccine.