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Sections

Science

Science

Disaster Aversion

The quest to control hurricanes.

Rivka Galchen Harper's Oct 2009 30min Permalink

Science

Hell and High Water

A 2016 investigation into why Houston wasn’t ready for the next big hurricane.

Neena Satija, Kiah Collier, Al Shaw, Jeff Larson ProPublica, Texas Tribune Mar 2016 40min Permalink

Best Article Science

Total Eclipse

“Seeing a partial eclipse bears the same relation to seeing a total eclipse as kissing a man does to marrying him.”

Annie Dillard The Atlantic Jan 1982 25min Permalink

Science

Nobody Knows What Lies Beneath New York City

The dark, tangled truths coming to light thanks to subterranean cartography.

Greg Milner Bloomberg Business Aug 2017 15min Permalink

Business Science

The End of Sand

It’s one of our most in-demand natural resources, and it’s running out.

David Owen New Yorker May 2017 20min Permalink

Science

In the Future, Your Body Won’t Be Buried... You’ll Dissolve

The next big thing in the death business.

Hayley Campbell Wired (UK) Aug 2017 20min Permalink

Science

Bombs in Our Backyard

An investigation into how the American military disposes of its waste.

Abrahm Lustgarten ProPublica Jul 2017 40min Permalink

Science

Holy Water

The author on her reverence for water.

Joan Didion PBS Jan 1977 10min Permalink

Science

Chaos Makes the Multiverse Unnecessary

Science predicts only the predictable, ignoring most of our chaotic universe.

Noson S. Yanofsky Nautilus Jun 2017 20min Permalink

Best Article Science

The Killer in the Pool

In February 2010, a killer whale named Tilikum dragged his SeaWorld trainer into the pool and drowned her. It was the third time the orca had been involved in a death during his 27 years in captivity. This is his story.

Tim Zimmermann Outside Jul 2010 35min Permalink

Politics Science

The Future of Coal Country

A local environmental activist fights to prepare her community for life beyond mining.

Eliza Griswold New Yorker Jun 2017 30min Permalink

Science Media

Is the Staggeringly Profitable Business of Scientific Publishing Bad for Science?

Inside the economics of scientific publishing, an industry that’s somehow nearly as profitable as film and has changed the course of science in the process.

Stephen Buranyi The Guardian Jun 2017 25min Permalink

History Science

What Makes Us Happy?

In 1937, Harvard researchers began following the lives of 268 students. Year after year, the men were interviewed and given medical and psychological exams. The goal? Find a formula for happiness.

Joshua Wolf Shenk The Atlantic Jun 2009 45min Permalink

Science

The Lunar Sea

How moonlight drives life in the ocean.

Ferris Jabr Hakai Magazine Jun 2017 10min Permalink

Science

“A Reckoning for Our Species”

A profile of philosopher Timothy Morton, who wants humanity to give up some of its core beliefs.

Alex Blasdel The Guardian Jun 2017 25min Permalink

Crime Science

Michael Foster Is Defiant

The activist who turned off the Keystone pipeline last fall is facing years in prison - and not backing down.

Kathryn Robinson Seattle Met Jun 2017 25min Permalink

Crime Science

Busting the Tree Ring

A hunt for maple poachers in Western Washington.

Ben Goldfarb High Country News May 2017 20min Permalink

Science

The Secret Life of Urban Crows

Among other things, crows can recognize human faces—and train each other to avoid people they don’t like.

James Ross Gardner Seattle Met May 2017 15min Permalink

History Science

The Most Important Scientist You’ve Never Heard Of

For 60 years, American drivers unknowingly poisoned themselves by pumping leaded gasoline into their tanks. Clair Patterson—a scientist who helped build the atomic bomb and discovered the true age of the Earth—took on a billion-dollar industry to save humanity from itself.

Lucas Reilly Mental Floss May 2017 45min Permalink

Science

The Doomsday Glacier

”In West Antarctica, scientists have discovered the engine of catastrophe.”

Jeff Goodell Rolling Stone May 2017 20min Permalink

Science World

India’s Silicon Valley Is Dying of Thirst. Your City May Be Next.

Bangalore was once the icon of a globalized, high tech, utopian future. Now it’s a sign of global catastrophe.

Samanth Subramanian Wired May 2017 15min Permalink

Science

Our Climate Future Is Actually Our Climate Present

An essay about what we’ll lose, and what we’ve already lost.

Jon Mooallem New York Times Magazine Apr 2017 10min Permalink

Science

End Pain Forever

Imagine you felt like your skin was always on fire. Imagine you couldn’t even feel a bone break. The genetic link between those two extremes could hold the key to ending physical suffering.

Erika Hayasaki Wired Apr 2017 20min Permalink

Science

'The Ocean Is Boiling': The Complete Oral History of the 1969 Santa Barbara Oil Spill

A look back at the spill that launched a movement.

Kate Wheeling, Max Ufberg Pacific Standard Apr 2017 35min Permalink

Business Science

The Blood of the Crab

Horseshoe crab blood is an irreplaceable medical marvel. Which means it’s incredibly valuable. Which means biomedical companies are bleeding 500,000 crabs a year. Nobody knows quite what that means for the crabs.

Caren Chesler Popular Mechanics Apr 2017 15min Permalink

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