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Arts & Culture

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The Strange Beauty of David Maisel’s Aerial Photographs

A new book shows how the photographer creates startling images of open-pit mines, evaporation ponds and other sites of environmental degradation

Infrastructural graffiti in the streets of New Haven, CT (original photo)

Decoding The City: The Road Graffiti Placed by Utility Workers

These infrastructural lines mark the pathways of pipes and wires beneath the paved surface — but what does each color mean?

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The Story of Elizabeth Keckley, Former-Slave-Turned-Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker

A talented seamstress and savvy businesswoman, she catered to Washington’s socialites

Music works deep into our brains.

Eight New Things We’ve Learned About Music

It’s right up there with food, sex and drugs when its comes to stirring up pleasure responses in our brains

A difference of nearly four decades: at top, a ski area in Aspen, Colorado last year, captured by Ron Hoffman; at bottom, the same location in 1974, shot by Dustin Wesley.

Before and After: America’s Environmental History

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“Stem Cells”

A new poem by Amit Majmudar

ZnO Fall Flowers. Image by Audrey Forticaux, a graduate student in the Chemistry Department

Intriguing Science Art From the University of Wisconsin

From a fish’s dyed nerves to vapor strewn across the planet, images submitted to a contest at the university offer new perspectives of the natural world

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What Modern Art Looks Like As Yummy Dessert

Pastry chef Caitlin Freeman uses inspiration from modern art to whip up cakes, cookies and other desserts

Do teachers need to train more like doctors?

Do Teachers Need Their Own “Bar Exam”?

Some say the best way to improve American education—and get teachers more respect—is make them take challenging entry exams like doctors and lawyers do

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The 64-Square Grid Design of ‘Through the Looking Glass’

The sequel to Alice’s Adventure’s in Wonderland was designed to be a playable, albeit whimsical chess problem

An artist’s rendering of Fog Bridge at the Exploratorium in San Francisco.

An Artist Creates Artificial Fog in San Francisco

Fujiko Nakaya works with an unusual medium. The Japanese artist is sculpting fog clouds at the Exploratorium’s new site at Pier 15

Singer in pillbox hat, 1958

‘I Remember’: An Artist’s Chronicle of What We Wore

In the 1970s, Joe Brainard wrote a book-length poem that paid heed to fashion

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Q+A with Chadwick Boseman, Star of New Jackie Robinson Biopic, ’42′

The actor talks about getting vetted by the baseball legend’s grandchildren, meeting with his wife and why baseball was actually his worst sport

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When Modern Art Met the Classic Chess Set

How far can you push the design of a knight before it stops looking like a knight?

A ginger sow and her piglets at the Ginger Pig’s Yorkshire farm.

How One Family Helped Change the Way We Eat Ham

The Harris family struck gold when they introduced the ice house to England in 1856, but what were the costs of their innovation?

Educating Americans for the 21st Century

The 10 Worst Teachers and Principals From Pop Culture

From Ferris Bueller’s Day Off to Mean Girls, on-screen educators have a talent for causing trouble. Here are the worst offenders.

Manassas Park Elementary School, Manassas, Virginia. Architect: VMDO Architects, PC.

Educating Americans for the 21st Century

Where Are the Greenest Schools in the Country?

The definition of being eco-conscious is so much more than having solar panels on a roof

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When The Gap Was Everywhere

Through staged fashion shoots, an artists’ collective critiqued the ascendant sportswear retailer

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The Best Way to Handle the Coming Cicada Invasion? Heat Up the Deep Fryer

For 17 years, these insects have been lurking, waiting to return, so here are some suggestions to eat your way through the infestation

A blank NFPA 704 panel

Decoding the City: The Fire Diamond

Just what are those red, blue, and yellow diamonds hanging outside warehouses and factories?

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