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American Astronauts Lost a Bet and Got Their Heads Shaved in Space
After the United States lost to Germany in World Cup group play on Thursday, American astronauts Reid Wiseman and Steve Swanson went through with their losing side of an international bet, and let...
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Is America Incapable of Regulating Robots?
The twenty or so years legal and other academics have spent studying the Internet have paid the dividends of structure and clarity that one would hope. The problem is that technology has not stood...
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What Beauty Looks Like, From Argentina to Vietnam
It started with a self-portrait. Esther Honig sent a photograph of herself, lit simply and shot from the shoulders up, to a designer in Sri Lanka. She sent a simple request along with the photo: "Make...
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The Hard Data on UFO Sightings: It's Mostly Drunk People in the West
Tuesday is the 67th anniversary of the rumored alien crash-landing in Roswell, New Mexico. But extraterrestrial aviators have been rather busy in the last few decades. The National UFO Reporting...
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Even the Editor of Facebook's Mood Study Thought It Was Creepy
Catching a glimpse of the puppet masters who play with the data trails we leave online is always disorienting. And yet there's something new-level creepy about a recent study that shows Facebook...
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Everything We Know About Facebook's Secret Mood Manipulation Experiment
Updated, 4:40 p.m. Eastern. Facebook’s News Feed—the main list of status updates, messages, and photos you see when you open Facebook on your computer or phone—is not a perfect mirror of the world. But...
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We're Not Ready for Robots
Should the U.S. establish a new federal agency to regulate robots? Here's one potential problem with that proposal—one that has very little to do with the law, and very much to do with technology:...
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Your Dinner Table: Soon to Be Cleared by Robots
Robots can be awkward. Even the most advanced we have—DARPA's automated pack mule, Softbank's "emotional" machine—are reminiscent of toddlers taking their first, tentative steps. "The Robot" is so...
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Why I Can't Delete a Digital Moment I Don't Even Remember
It’s been about three months since things ended, and for the most part, I try to avoid the remnants of him. I threw out his toothbrush. I don’t go to our favorite bar where we had our first date. When...
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Turning CDs Into LPs, With a Twist
London musician Aleksander Kolkowski is giving new life to a dying musical format—by turning it into an even older format. His idea: repurpose the compact disc to play like its musical predecessor, the...
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Algorithm-Generated Articles Don't Foretell the End of Journalism
Earlier today, the Associated Press announced that the bulk of its corporate earnings stories will be, starting in July, written automatically. The new project is powered by a company called Automated...
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When an Internet Stranger is in Trouble, Do You Have to Help?
Sharing frivolous dramas and half-formed longings on social media comes as naturally as breathing for teenagers. Which helps explain why #followateen was so ripe for easy—and relatively...
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Data Science: What the Facebook Controversy is Really About
Facebook has always “manipulated” the results shown in its users’ News Feeds by filtering and personalizing for relevance. But this weekend, the social giant seemed to cross a line, when it announced...
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The Internet Would Like You to Stop With All the Cat-Video Talk
ASPEN, Colo.—It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single news consumer in possession of a free minute must be in want of a cat video. The whole Internet-and-cats thing—a meta-meme about the...
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Facebook Lawyer: That Emotion-Manipulation Study Was About Customer Service
ASPEN, Colo.—During a session on freedom of speech at the Aspen Ideas Festival, hosted by the Aspen Institute and The Atlantic, Facebook's Head of Global Policy Management, Monika Bickert, was asked...
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Ginsburg's Hobby Lobby Dissent, in Emo Musical Form
"The Court, I fear, has ventured into a minefield." That's Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in the 35-page dissent she wrote against the Supreme Court's decision in Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. It's a...
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I’m Blocking Your Baby’s Facebook Photos
There's a family picture I’ve seen but now can't find: It's Thanksgiving 2011. We're at my parents' house and everyone is gathered around the table, smiling at the camera—except me. I'm a blur in the...
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Instagram Was First Called 'Burbn'
ASPEN, Colo.—Instagram didn't start out as Instagram. It started out as … Burbn. Kevin Systrom, the creativity researcher Keith Sawyer explains, was a fan of Kentucky whiskeys. So when he created a...
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The Last, Great, Gasp of the American Station Wagon
Growing up, my family owned a burgundy 1984 Chevrolet Caprice Classic station wagon, complete with faux-wood paneling and a rooftop luggage rack. It fit nine passengers comfortably and over the course...
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