Modern Historic Eras: World
Synchronized Swimming is Really Hard, and Really Weird
Olympic synchronized swimmers get a lot of flack for their wacky sport - but while it is weird, it's also really hard.
August 08, 2012 |
By Rose Eveleth
76 Years Ago Today, Jesse Owens Proved the Nazis Wrong
In 1936 Jesse Owens won four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics, throwing the idea of Aryan supremacy back into Hitler's face.
August 03, 2012 |
By Rose Eveleth
Read a 2007 Essay in Smithsonian by Gore Vidal, Last Writer of His Kind
Why more writers should be as fearless, and as prickly as Vidal.
August 01, 2012 |
By Rose Eveleth
How China Will Beat the US in Olympic Medals
How to tell which countries will take home more bling, and why weight lifting matters.
July 30, 2012 |
By Rose Eveleth
Why the Population Time Bomb Hasn’t Finished Exploding
In a five-part exploration of the ever-growing human population, now sitting at 7 billion and expected to hit 9.3 billion by 2050, Los Angeles Times reporter Kenneth R. Weiss, describes how the world may, finally, be on the cusp of diffusing the still-ticking time bomb.
July 24, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
Germans un-Kampf-ortable With Reissue of Hitler’s Tome
Starting in 2015, Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf will once again be available to German readers.
July 05, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
Devastating Colorado Wildfires Most Recent in Decades-Long Surge
Residents have so far been able to stay safe from the fires, but strong winds compounding on record high temperatures, a dry winter, and possibly a recent pine beetle infestation, have rocketed this year's fire season to be one of the most destructive in at least four decades.
June 27, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
Saudis to Send Women to London Olympics After All
The 2012 London summer Olympics will be the first time Saudi women athletes will be able to compete. According to the Associated Press, The discussions on sending women to the games have been wrapped in secrecy for fear of a backlash from the powerful religious establishment and deeply traditional society in which women are severely [...]
June 26, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
What’s the Difference Between Clinically Dead, Figuratively Dead and Just Plain Dead?
Hosni Mubarak’s heart has stopped beating and he’s not responding to defibrillation. Mubarak is clinically dead. Wait, no—Mubarak is in a coma and now he’s on life support. Just kidding, Mubarak is almost stable. Uncertainty shrouds the 84-year-old former Egyptian president’s condition like smoke from so many hookahs. But confusion also accompanies the various medical [...]
June 20, 2012 |
By Rachel Nuwer
Richard Clarke on Who Was Behind the Stuxnet Attack
America's longtime counterterrorism czar warns that the cyberwars have already begun—and that we might be losing
April 2012 |
By Ron Rosenbaum
What Defines a Meme?
Our world is a place where information can behave like human genes and ideas can replicate, mutate and evolve
May 2011 |
By James Gleick
Ten Unforgettable Web Memes
Cats and failures highlight this list of the memes that have gone mainstream. Which ones did we miss?
April 18, 2011 |
By Megan Gambino, Ryan R. Reed, Jesse Rhodes and Brian Wolly
Turn on, Log in, Wise up
If the internet is dumbing us down, how come I've never felt smarter?
April 2011 |
By Donald Morrison
What the Luddites Really Fought Against
The label now has many meanings, but when the group protested 200 years ago, technology wasn't really the enemy
March 2011 |
By Richard Conniff
Seeing Dubai Through a Cell Phone Camera
At a shopping mall in Dubai, Joel Sternfeld documents the peak of consumer culture with his iPhone
February 2011 |
By David Zax
There Was an App for That
Software applications changed the course of history
January 2011 |
By Bruce McCall
My Big Hang-Up in a Connected World
One man's rage against the communication revolution and the dying of civility
October 2010 |
By Ted Gup
President Barack Obama: Why I’m Optimistic
Looking ahead to the next 40 years, President Obama writes about our nature as Americans to dream big and solve problems
August 2010 |
By Barack Obama
Rita Dove on the Future of Literature
The Pulitzer-Prize winning poet discusses how new technologies will affect the creative process
August 2010 |
By Lucinda Moore
Vinton Cerf on Where the Internet Will Take Us
Google’s “Chief Internet Evangelist” talks about the direction of online connectivity and communication
August 2010 |
By Brian Wolly
