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Richard Renaldi The Surprising Benefits of Talking to Strangers
So many of us have been raised to see strangers as dangerous and scary. What would happen if we instead saw them as potential sources of comfort and belonging?
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Addie Borchert The Rich, Weird, and Frustrating World of Depression-Era Travel Guides
The American Guides were unusual not only for their shaggy opulence and Americana maximalism, but also for their source of funding: the federal government.
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Irene Suosalo Artificial Intelligence Is Misreading Human Emotion
There is no good evidence that facial expressions reveal a person’s feelings. But big tech companies want you to believe otherwise.
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Lucy Jones Don’t Help Your Kids With Homework
Focus on prioritization and process, not the assignment itself.
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Samantha Simon / Getty ‘It Seems That I Know How the Universe Originated’
The theoretical physicist Andrei Linde may have the world’s most expansive conception of what infinity looks like.
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Nina Westervelt / The New York Times / … Diamonds Aren’t Special and Neither Is Your Love
We’ve coupled love to marriage and marriage to gems, and all three thrive on the assumption of rarity. What would it mean for love to be common?
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David Levene / eyevine / Redux America’s Toxic Love Affair With Technology
Major inventions cause major upheaval. Why don’t we take precautions?
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Toma Vagner How I Became a Poker Champion in One Year
One of the world’s best players taught me his unique psychological style of play—and it worked.
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Adeshola Makinde Punching Steph Curry
The rules of the game drive the nature of competition.
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Hulton Archive / Getty When Hollywood’s Power Players Were Women
Female writers, directors, and producers were pioneers of the silent-film era—but were pushed out of the industry as its influence grew.
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(Thomas Barwick / Getty) The New Black Body
My case for equal-opportunity cosmetic enhancements
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National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; Frederick Hill Meserve … The Remarkable Life of Jessie Benton Frémont
A century and a half ago, a pioneering woman redefined the role of the political spouse.
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Owen Franken / Getty Gen-X Women Are Caught in a Generational Tug-of-War
The average caregiver is a 49-year-old woman, and the demands of caregiving seem likely to increase.
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Bettmann / Getty The Railroads That Created Christmas
Before Americans could have gift-giving on a massive scale, they needed a way to move all those goods around.
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Everett Collection Why Singin’ in the Rain Is an Almost Perfect Musical
The 1952 film exemplifies the key elements of a beloved Hollywood genre.
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Abd Doumany / Getty In Syria, America Had No Good Options
When every policy choice was terrible, finding the least bad one became the only way forward.
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Stringer / Getty Silicon Valley Is One of the Most Polluted Places in the Country
Microchip manufacturers contaminated the groundwater in the 1980s. Almost 40 years later, the cleanup still isn’t complete.
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Jens Schlueter / Getty STEM Is Overrated
College is not just job prep, and the job market changes constantly.
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Stefan Wermuth / Reuters You Can’t Keep Your Parents’ Skulls
Under U.S. law, it’s nearly impossible to get permission to decapitate and de-flesh a relative’s remains.
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Whitman College / The Atlantic How I Became an ‘Accidental’ Professor
My love and respect for the craft of writing fuel my commitment to teaching it. But it was a long time before I could envision academia including someone like me.
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