Issue_30
28 articles-
Inside the Mind of a Caricaturist
The “Caricature Generator” is a computer program that takes an image of a person’s face, finds its differences as compared to the “average” male face, and then exaggerates them in a novel rendering of the original portrait. Each face is broken up into 37 lines and 169 points—the differences come when the subject’s points don’t […] -
Conservationists Are Learning How To Use a Pretty Face
This August, German photographer Kerstin Langenberger posted a photo to Facebook of a frail polar bear, evidently starved, adrift among the disappearing ice. In the photo’s caption, she blamed global warming for the bear’s malnutrition and for the death of many others she’d seen. Articles featuring Langenberger’s commentary and photo followed soon after, with headlines […] -
Why Is “Survivor” Still on Television?
Exactly four months and 31 days into what was, at that time, still being called “The New Millennium,” CBS aired the first-ever episode of Survivor. Bill Clinton was still in office, the NASDAQ Composite Index had just peaked at 5,048, and the twin towers still stood in New York City. Since then America has […] -
How Black Friday Got Its Name
Shutterstock/PremiumVector As legend has it, it takes most of the year for a retail business to become profitable. After months of being “in the red,” in November they are finally “in the black.” This phrase has been used in this way since 1922. Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . […] -
Here’s Why Millennials Really Aren’t That Different
Shutterstock/Rawpixel.com By the year 2020 five separate generations will occupy the workplace: Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen 2020. In just five years, the newest person hired at a company could be working right next to her great grandfather. This half-century age gap is unprecedented. And with Millennials now the biggest proportion of […]
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How Our Words Affect Our Thoughts on Race and Gender
Can a person who is biologically male really be female? What about someone who is born white but doesn’t feel that way—can she become black? Intelligent adults can disagree passionately on these questions of identity, as evident in the back-and-forth discussion over the recent cases of Caitlyn Jenner, a transgender woman, and Rachel Dolezal, a […]
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How Your Embryo Knew What To Do
The forgotten story of the woman who discovered how animals get their shape.
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This Is Why It’s Hard to Recognize a Black Hole
Black Beauty: The supermassive black hole at the center of this galaxy, around 11 million light years away toward the constellation Centaurus, is currently classified as a quasar. It is roughly 55 million times more massive than our Sun. Its collimated jets, in blue, surpass the diameter of the entire galaxy, extending up to 13,000 […]
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Can a Wandering Mind Make You Neurotic?
I have two children, and they are a study in contrasts: My son works at a gym designing and building rock-climbing walls; In his spare time, he climbs them. My daughter is a Ph.D. student in immunology; In her spare time, she writes novels. My son is the sort of person you want around in […]
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The Man Who Used Facebook to Find an Extinct Human Species
Lee Berger has a knack for finding fossils his own way. -
Identity Is an Inside Joke
Why you laugh with your friends. -
Science Is Proving That Tragic Curses Are Real
Epigenetics and behaviorism suggest the ancient Greeks were right. -
Is Farmed Salmon Really Salmon?
The staple fish is having an identity crisis. -
The Case for Making Humans Smaller
When Arne Hendriks, a 6” 4’ Dutchman, faced audience members at TEDxBrainport in 2012, he smiled apologetically. “I have some bad news for you,” he said. “You’re not short enough.” Hendriks believes that the planet’s growing population—currently at 7 billion—is unsustainable. His solution? We should shrink ourselves to 50 cm, around the height of a […]
