Disaster Aversion
The quest to control hurricanes.
The quest to control hurricanes.
Rivka Galchen Harper's Oct 2009 30min Permalink
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
“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
The dark, tangled truths coming to light thanks to subterranean cartography.
Greg Milner Bloomberg Business Aug 2017 15min Permalink
It’s one of our most in-demand natural resources, and it’s running out.
David Owen New Yorker May 2017 20min Permalink
The next big thing in the death business.
Hayley Campbell Wired (UK) Aug 2017 20min Permalink
An investigation into how the American military disposes of its waste.
Abrahm Lustgarten ProPublica Jul 2017 40min Permalink
The author on her reverence for water.
Joan Didion PBS Jan 1977 10min Permalink
Science predicts only the predictable, ignoring most of our chaotic universe.
Noson S. Yanofsky Nautilus Jun 2017 20min Permalink
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
A local environmental activist fights to prepare her community for life beyond mining.
Eliza Griswold New Yorker Jun 2017 30min Permalink
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
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
How moonlight drives life in the ocean.
Ferris Jabr Hakai Magazine Jun 2017 10min Permalink
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
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
A hunt for maple poachers in Western Washington.
Ben Goldfarb High Country News May 2017 20min Permalink
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
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
”In West Antarctica, scientists have discovered the engine of catastrophe.”
Jeff Goodell Rolling Stone May 2017 20min Permalink
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
An essay about what we’ll lose, and what we’ve already lost.
Jon Mooallem New York Times Magazine Apr 2017 10min Permalink
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
A look back at the spill that launched a movement.
Kate Wheeling, Max Ufberg Pacific Standard Apr 2017 35min Permalink
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