Arts & Culture

It’s Pineapple Season, But Does Your Fruit Come From Hawaii?

While Hawaii was once the big kahuna in pineapple production, it’s since been overtaken by other global powers

March 20, 2013

The Top Ten Most Influential Travel Books

Even before there were armchairs, voracious bookworms traveled the world just by reading

March 19, 2013

A Partial History of Headphones

Modern headphones have their origin in opera houses, military bases and a kitchen table in Utah

March 19, 2013

Haiku Highlight the Existential Mysteries of Planetary Science

Conference-goers put into verse the ethane lakes on a Saturn moon, the orbital paths of Martian moons and a megachondrule’s mistaken identity

March 19, 2013

The Perils of Wearing Clothes

From toxins in textile dyes to torturous corsets, beauty has a long history of coming at a high cost

March 18, 2013

A New Meaning to Green Urban Design: Dyeing the Chicago River

The story behind how the Windy City gets its yearly watery makeover

March 15, 2013

Fresh Off the 3D Printer: Henry Segerman’s Mathematical Sculptures

A research fellow at the University of Melbourne has found a sneaky way to convert math haters to math lovers. He turns complex geometries into art

March 15, 2013

Is Corned Beef Really Irish?

The rise and fall and rise of the traditional St. Patrick’s Day meal

March 15, 2013

Who Really Invented the Smiley Face?

It’s supposedly the 50th anniversary of the original design of the iconic image, but its history since then is surprisingly complex with millions of dollars at stake

March 13, 2013

Hey Vegans! There May Be Fish Bladder in Your Guinness

Isinglass, a gelatine collected from the air-bladders of freshwater fish like the sturgeon, is used in the clarification process of some stouts

March 13, 2013

The Northern Lights—From Scientific Phenomenon to Artists’ Muse

The spectacular aurora borealis is inspiring artists to create light installations, musical compositions, food and fashion

March 12, 2013

An Early History of the Parachute

It wasn’t a military expert or an aviation pioneer, but a Russian actor who developed the first viable parachute

March 7, 2013

The (Natural) World, According to Our Photo Contest Finalists

From a caterpillar to the Milky Way, the ten finalists in the contest’s Natural World category capture the peculiar, the remarkable and the sublime

March 7, 2013

The Aughts: When People Wore Their Causes on Their Sleeves, Literally

It was a decade of Uggs and excess but also styles meant to further the greater good

March 6, 2013

Hot Air Balloon Travel for the Luxury Traveler of the 1800s

Visionary designers of the 19th century believed that the future of air travel depended on elaborate airships

March 5, 2013

The Greatest R&B Singer Who Never Existed

How the make-believe alter ego of an imaginative teen in the 1970s won him the fame he always dreamed of 40 years later

March 5, 2013

Transforming Raw Scientific Data Into Sculpture and Song

Artist Nathalie Miebach uses meteorological data to create 3D woven works of art and playable musical scores

March 1, 2013

Digital Files and 3D Printing—in the Renaissance?

3D printing is a new technology that seems poised to change the world, but its origins date back all the way to the 15th century

March 1, 2013

The Fishy History of the McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish Sandwich

How a struggling entrepreneur in Ohio saved his burger business during Lent and changed the McDonald’s menu for good.

March 1, 2013

How Gorillas Emerged From Africa and More New and Notable Books

Read the latest on subliminal message, body snatching, and Sheryl Sandberg’s insights on the rise of women

March 2013