Let Robots Handle Your Emotional Burnout at Work But as robotics and computing evolve, some researchers foresee a future where technology can relieve the long-held emotional burden of some of these professions. They think we owe it to the service workforce to offer a new frontline of robotic protection. In fact, they think it’s far overdue–but does that actually mean just automating these jobs away?

    Why You Should Be Eating Jellyfish to Save the Oceans Human disruption of the oceans is killing fish and leaving jellyfish to rule supreme. Could we make amends by adding them to our menus? Are you at least willing to take a bite, and try the taste?

    The Aesthetics of Feeling Safe Rape is added to the lengthy list of the things a woman should keep in mind before going out, in addition to skin oil and bra lines and the effect that gravity can have on our hair.

    Chasing Virality Brought Us Fake News, Now Everything’s on Fire By uncritically embedding itself into social networks, did the media actually usher in the era of fake news?

    The Power of Play: A Reading List A crash course on how fun and leisure can change the world

    The Future of Money Depends on Busting Fairy Tales About Its Past Want to disrupt finance? Start here.

    Fowl Plague

    Pandemics have threatened humanity in the past–and avian influenza may well be the next one due.
    Duncan Geere
    Aug 4, 2017
    A vast stack of containers on a ship

    Postcards From a Supply Chain

    A series that traces consumer goods back through the global shipping system to their source.
    Dan Williams
    Jan 21, 2015

    The ID Question

    Who decides who you are? You, or the world around you?
    Anjali Ramachandran
    Nov 22, 2017

    Beats: Space

    Space is where we project our dreams–and our nightmares–of the future.

    Beats: Food

    Food structures our day, and food systems shape our world

    Beats: Disability

    “Disable” is an active verb, and disability describes the social and environmental barriers that prevent access just as much as an individual body’s physical reality.

    Beats: Health

    Access to health care is as much a matter of public policy as it is the size of a person’s pocketbook; within a doctor’s office, many factors affect the quality of treatment.

    The Face That Looks Back

    On transplants, disfigurements, and identity.
    Rich McEachran
    Oct 7, 2016 8 min read

    5 Innovations in Sewage Management

    This is the real fresh sh!t
    Alice Bell
    Apr 2, 2015 2 min read

    Making the “Light” Episode of How We Got To Now

    Steven Johnson explains how the show was put together.
    Matt Locke
    Oct 29, 2014 2 min read