The Present
All Stories
Could we replace lawyers with robots? In some cases, yes
You don't need to completely automate a job to fundamentally change it.
Study: unintended consequences of affirmative action
A program in Brazil both helped and harmed. What can we learn from it?
How the U.S. reinvented the notion of empire
Preferring "bases not places," the U.S. does not really resemble the empires of old.
The 3D-printed bionic arm that is disrupting the prosthetics industry
Prosthetic arms can cost amputees $80,000. A startup called Unlimited Tomorrow is aiming to change that by making customized 3D-printed bionic arms for just $8,000.
Is Bitcoin really “economic freedom”?
Bitcoin's creator owns five percent of the entire Bitcoin supply, meaning that he has a larger percent of Bitcoin than the U.S. has of gold.
How to reduce gun violence without taking people’s guns
Hospitals often deal with the aftermath of gun violence, but they can play a key role in preventing it.
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Why the U.S. is trapped in “endless war”
Instead of just Afghanistan, the U.S. military ought to withdraw from the entire Middle East and much of the rest of the world.
Who needs higher education when we have YouTube?
Higher education, particularly for fields like filmmaking, is in big trouble when a world-class education can be found online cheaply or even for free.
Three powerful technologies we borrowed from nature
Three cutting-edge techniques – the gene-editing tool CRISPR, fluorescent proteins and optogenetics – were all inspired by nature.
Meet the world’s first ‘digital species’ for conservation
The Seychelles magpie-robin is up for sale – yes, for sale – as a digital nature collectible.
This chart shows when each new sport joined the Olympic Games
Our chart shows new additions since 1984 that have stuck around.
How can we fix America’s police?
Three ideas could help create the police force that Americans want.
A new franchising model offers business opportunities to those who need them most
A socially minded franchise model makes money while improving society.
How humans came to rely on the kindness of strangers
For the ancients, hospitality was an inviolable law enforced by gods and priests and anyone else with the power to make you pay dearly for mistreating a stranger.
Godzilla and mushroom clouds: How the first postwar nuclear tests made it to the silver screen
The few seconds of nuclear explosion opening shots in Godzilla alone required more than 6.5 times the entire budget of the monster movie they ended up in.
Yeet! As society changes, the dictionary gets weirder
English is a dynamic language, and this summer's new additions to dictionary.com tell us a lot about how we're living.
To boost the economy, treat the cause of aging
By slowing down aging, we could reap trillions of dollars in economic benefits.
Not just COVID: mortality rates are up from homicides, drug overdoses, accidents
Some of these trends may be due, in part, to the lockdown.
Thanks to Iceland, the four-day workweek is coming
A new study from Iceland confirms that a shorter workweek improves productivity.
Conventional wisdom says we shouldn’t date our friends. It’s wrong.
Two-thirds of romances start out as friendships.
Smart technology (probably) isn’t making you dumber
Technology usually has more pros than cons, but every benefit still carries some risk.
Want to tackle poverty? Start with blindness
Nearly 90% of the world's blind live in low-income countries.
57% of U.S. structures lie within a natural “hazard hotspot”
A new study mapped areas of the U.S. that are most likely to suffer natural disasters.
McDonald’s is replacing human drive-thru attendants with AI
The pilot project is in 10 stores and is 85% accurate.
Recidivism: breaking the cycle from father to son
Our program lowers reincarceration rates by 44 percent.
Air pollution linked to violent crime in Chicago
As air pollution increases, so does violent crime.
Volcanoes to power bitcoin mining in El Salvador
The first nation to make bitcoin legal tender will use geothermal energy to mine it.
We are all conspiracy theorists
In each of our minds, we draw a demarcation line between beliefs that are reasonable and those that are nonsense. Where do you draw your line?