Hot-Air Balloons Are Useless
When they were invented, the vessels promised to revolutionize travel and industry. But they soon settled into life as an entertaining diversion. An Object Lesson.
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Projects
Metropolis Now
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Jonathan Bachman / Reuters The Hurricane in My Backyard
An environmental philosopher reflects on his experience enduring Hurricane Harvey, and what it teaches cities and their citizens about living with global warming.
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John Hersey AI Could Make Detecting Autism Easier
Machine learning might speed up screening, but it also risks missing nuances a human clinician could catch.
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Frèdèric Scheiber / AP Unidentified Plane-Bae Woman’s Statement Confirms the Worst
This is “not a romance” but “a digital-age cautionary tale about privacy, identity, ethics and consent.”
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Reuters / Mark Blinch How Twitter Became The Number One Social Network For Nudists
As platforms like Facebook and Instagram crack down on explicit content, Twitter has allowed nudity to thrive.
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Wisa Thananimit / Shutterstock / Thanh Do / ... Why Some of Instagram's Biggest Memers Are Locking Their Accounts
More meme accounts are going private. Their owners say it’s a new way to gain followers on a crowded platform.
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Adrian Dennis / Getty Soccer Has No Interest in Fairness
The sport is finally embracing video-replay technology—but that doesn’t mean it’s going to change.
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Anupong Thongchan / Shutterstock Why It’s Hard to Protect Domestic-Violence Survivors Online
Restraining orders have evolved to prohibit digital communication, but what happens when they fail?
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nacoki / Media Arc / Getty The Linguist Who Helps Police Catch Child Predators
To pose as kids, British cops are learning how to talk like them online.
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Rich Pedroncelli / AP Driving Without a Smartphone
A new law in Georgia discourages drivers from even touching a screen. Whether or not it improves safety, it could help break people’s phone habits.
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Vital Pictures / Getty Stop Live-Tweeting Strangers Flirting
#PlaneBae is just the most recent example of an obnoxious trend.
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Library of Congress The Death of the Public Square
Today’s most powerful companies are enemies of free expression.
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Natalie Behring / Reuters Raising the American Flag Made in China
Is the banner’s patriotism undermined when it’s manufactured abroad? An Object Lesson.
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Shutterstock How Twitter Became Home to the Teen Status Update
“Local Twitter” is a booming network of basic, young suburbanites across the country.
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Mackenzie Mathis A Game-Changing AI Tool for Tracking Animal Movements
Scientists are already using it to study octopuses, electric fish, surgical robots, and racehorses.
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Yusuf Ahmad / Reuters Could Quantum Computing Be the End of Free Will?
On the fear that too much processing power will make us cease to be human
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Santi S / Africa Studio / hansslegers / ... Code Now. Pay Tuition Later.
Coding schools are offering free classes in exchange for a percentage of future income. But at what cost?
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Francois Lenoir / Reuters Can Sacrificing Privacy Stomp Out Disinformation Online?
One way to ward off bad actors could be more information sharing between social-media platforms, researchers, and governments.
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Ian Waldie / Getty The Way Police Identified the Capital Gazette Shooter Was Totally Normal
… and a reminder that your photo is probably stored in a government database.
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Courtesy of Robhat Labs A Web Tool That Lets People Choose Their Own ‘Sources of Truth’
Two 21-year-olds believe they have a way to bring consumers of unreliable news closer to objectivity.
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NASA / Reuters Is Colonizing Mars the Most Important Project in Human History?
The Red Planet is a freezing, faraway, uninhabitable desert. But protecting the human species from the end of life on Earth could save trillions of lives.
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Horacio Villalobos / Corbis / Getty Reddit's Case for Anonymity on the Internet
The site’s head claims that the policy of not collecting personal information allows people to be “more true to themselves.”
