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Confucius in the Cockpit, and Other Items to Read, and Ignore, on Asiana 214
The investigation goes on, it will take a while before all the facts are in, and so on. In the meantime, here is a handy triage guide on what to read today:1) The flying professors. One day after the...
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For the First Time, Astronomers Have Determined the Color of an Exoplanet
An artist's rendering of the planet HD 189733b, discovered to be deep blue in color (NASA/ESA)Scientists have identified, at this point, more than 900 exoplanets -- planets that exist outside our solar...
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5 Landmarks That Could Soon Be Swallowed by Rising Seas
So, you spent last weekend celebrating American independence with patriotic fervor and you're now enthused about the preservation of American history and culture and all things awesome and bygone....
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An Ode to Computer Shopper
flickr/m-e-cHarry McCracken, a tech writer with a memory, brings word that PCWorld, his long time employer, has exited the print magazine business, leading him to declare "the era of computer magazines...
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Surveilling the Birds
An hour's drive east by southeast from Pittsburgh, hidden among the picturebook-perfect red barns, white fences, and green fields of the Lignonier Valley, lies an equally carefully maintained landscape...
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Another Useful Video on the San Francisco Crash
Let me start by saying that the static screenshot above (not clickable) and the embedded video below, from which it comes, are not about Asiana flight 214 and what did or did not happen to it.But the...
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Will Humans Still Be Humans in an Age of Artificial Intelligence?
Almost as soon as it arrived as a concept, artificial intelligence has occupied a hefty portion of humans' technological anxieties. We worry about machines taking over our jobs (and/or our emotions,...
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What If You Could Snapchat a Scent?
Shutterstock/Sofia AndreevnaFresh-brewed coffee. Towels, just out of the dryer. The sour-sweet of a summer sidewalk. Sweat. Ocean. Brownies baking. Lilies blooming. Musk. Most of us tend to classify...
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I Know What You Did Last Errand
They're watching you. (Shutterstock/Kzenon)Here are some of the things that stores -- physical, street-side stores -- might know about you from your recent visit to them: • your age • your gender •...
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A Journey Into Our Food System's Refrigerated-Warehouse Archipelago
Scene from an exhibition (Nicola Twilley). "The diet of the average American is almost entirely dependent on the existence of a vast, distributed winter--a seamless network of artificially chilled...
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Night Witches: The Female Fighter Pilots of World War II
The women of the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, with their aircraft in the backgroundIt was the spring of 1943, at the height of World War II. Two pilots, members of the Soviet Air Force, were flying...
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An Astronomer Followed a Whim -- and Discovered a New Moon for Neptune
A composite Hubble Space Telescope picture showing the location of Neptune's newly discovered moon, S/2004 N 1 (NASA/ESA/SETI Institute)It started when Mark Showalter followed a whim. On July 1, the...
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Does Anything Go? The Rise and Fall of a Racist Corner of Reddit
If you're the type of person who reads blogs on the Internet, you're probably already familiar with Reddit. The online community driven by user-submitted content made headlines after hosting "Ask Me...
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You're an Astronaut on a Spacewalk — and Your Helmet Is Filling With Water
Astronaut Scott Parazynski makes a space walk to continue construction of the International Space Station, 2007. (NASA)Imagine you're an astronaut. Imagine you're on a spacewalk. Imagine, in other...
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What Happens When Everyone Makes Maps?
On a spring Sunday in a Soho penthouse, ten people have gathered for a digital mapping "Edit-A-Thon." Potted plants grow to the ceiling and soft cork carpets the floor. At a long wooden table, an...
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Hal Harvey on 'Fear, Hope, and Climate,' at the Aspen Ideas Festival
I mentioned while the Aspen Ideas Festival was underway that I'd found a session with Hal Harvey, of Energy Innovation, particularly enlightening. The full hour-long video has just gone online, and you...
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Laughter Without Humor: On the Laugh-Loop GIF
At the 68th Golden Globe Awards, a visibly pregnant Natalie Portman ascended the stage to collect the Best Actress award for her work in the psychological drama Black Swan. Her earnest three minute...
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Chuck E. Cheese's, Silicon Valley Startup: The Origins of the Best Pizza...
You may not know this, but Chuck E. Cheese's -- yes, the pizza place -- has its origins as firmly planted in the soil of Silicon Valley as Apple, HP, or Intel. In fact, it sprang from Nolan Bushnell's...
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Hong Kong, Chrome: 2 Updates and Pentimenti
1) Two weeks ago I shared a photo, via Beijing Cream, of contrasting front-page treatment in the South China Morning Post (which is not run by the Chinese government) and the China Daily (which is) on...
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The State of Wyoming Has 2 Escalators
This is not one of Wyoming's escalators. (Shutterstock/PhotonCatcher)In 2008, Megan Lee -- then a reporter at the Star Tribune in Casper, Wyoming, and the author of the paper's "Answer Girl" column --...
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