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Arts & Culture

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The Amazing Public Art Deep in the Heart of Texas

Houston has a healthy allowance for beautifying its streets and parks. See how it spends it

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The Past and Future of the Baseball Bat

The evolution of the baseball bat, and a few unusual mutations

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These Bright Webs Depict Flight Patterns Around Major Airports

Software engineer Alexey Papulovskiy has built Contrailz, a site that generates visuals of flight data over cities around the world

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Announcing Our Video Contest Finalists

View our judges’ top 25 picks, and help us select the Readers’ Choice Award winner!

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Two Faces, One Portrait

A collage artist combs through glamour shots of forgotten Hollywood actors to create compelling celebrity mashups

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Summer Reads: Zombie Science, the American Revolution and Travels Across Italy

Looking for a good book? We’ve got some suggestions

Fornaciari’s analysis of an anonymous 13th- to 15th-century female skeleton showed evidence of severe anemia.

CSI: Italian Renaissance

Inside a lab in Pisa, forensics pathologist Gino Fornaciari and his team investigate 500-year-old cold cases

Less conspicuous than the rugged Rocky, Cascade and Coast Mountain Ranges in this photograph are the markings of agriculture, in the bottom center.

It’s a Green, Green, Green, Green World

NASA and NOAA release satellite images of Earth and all its vegetation

A Brief History of the Baseball

The development of the baseball, from shoe rubber and lemon peels to today’s minimalist, modernist object

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The Big Bang: Enthralling Photos of Exploding Bullets

Houston photographer Deborah Bay captures the violent power of projectiles lodged in bulletproof plexiglass

Store-provided personal barcode scanners are becoming more commonplace, but the technology is being adapted for smart phones to make for an easier shopping experience.

Five Ways to See the Supermarket of the Future Today

The early 20th-century obsession with child prodigies was well documenting in tabloid newspapers, turning the kids into national celebrities.

The Child Prodigies Who Became 20th-Century Celebrities

Every generation produces kid geniuses, but in the early 1900s, the public was obsessed with them

Points interactive directional signpost

A Sign For the Times: Digital Wayfinding Adapts to Your Needs

Design agency BREAKFAST is creating the street sign of the future

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This Incredible Art Installation Makes It Rain, Everywhere But On You

“Rain Room,” on display at MoMA, is an indoor downpour that detects the presence of people and adjusts to keep them dry

Huitlacoche, a black corn fungus, is an agricultural bane to some, but to others, it’s a delicacy.

Delicious Molds: Four Fungi Fit For Your Plate

Some molds are perfectly fit for consumption, if not desired to produce fine dining fare

"I am bringing healthy food to the community and showing people how to grow it and cook it," says Ron Finley.

How Guerrilla Gardening Can Save America’s Food Deserts

Ron Finley’s L.A. Green Grounds brings fresh fruit and vegetables to urban neighborhoods dominated by fast food, liquor stores and empty lots

A sample of Dyslexie, a tyepface designed to help dyslexic people

How New Fonts Are Helping Dyslexics Read and Making Roads Safer

The right font can be appealing, but please don’t take this as an excuse to use Comic Sans

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The Daily Planet in Film and Television

The real buildings that played the Daily Planet in film and television

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What to Do With Your Delicious Summer Melons

From salsa to salad to soup, here are some great refreshing dishes to make with these sublime, succulent fruits

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Where Bourbon Really Got Its Name and More Tips on America’s Native Spirit

Michael Veach is Louisville’s unofficial bourbon ambassador. We asked him to give us some history as well as some suggestions on what to drink

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