A giant squid

Why Deep-Sea Creatures Get Weirdly Giant

A giant squid sighting has us wondering all over again: how on earth do deep-sea creatures get so large?
Source: Getty

What Should We Do about Our Aging Prison Population?

Can compassionate release laws solve the problem of the nearly 200,000 people aged 55 and older who are incarcerated in America?
Busing in Charlotte, NC

Does Busing Work to Integrate Schools?

Busing as a means used to end school segregation remains controversial. Does it work? The case of Norfolk, Virginia, is highly instructive.
An illustration of a tabloid magazine featuring Lord Byron

With Social Media, Everyone’s A Celebrity

Social media has made constant exposure a common experience. To learn how to deal with the attention, maybe we should look to the first celebrities.
A nuclear mushroom cloud

New Nukes, AI Researchers, and Women’s Soccer

Well-researched stories from Vice, Public Books, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
The Shinkansen N700A Series Set G13 high speed train travelling at approximately 300 km/h through Himeji Station, Japan

Will the U.S. Ever Catch a High-Speed Train?

Over 20 countries have high-speed train travel, carrying 1.6 billion passengers a year. The United States is lagging behind.
Hortense Powdermaker

When Hortense Powdermaker Studied Hollywood

This anthropologist's research on contemporary American society probes the tensions between business and art in the film world.
The Mars Curiosity Rover

The Meaning of Methane on Mars

Curiosity rover's recent report of methane on Mars isn't the first time the gas has been indicated. Does it necessarily mean that Mars harbors life?
The Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum in St. Augustine, FL

Should Museums Display Shrunken Heads?

Tsantsas, or shrunken human heads, remind us of how museums have often been founded on a violent trade in indigenous culture.
A DuPont ad for Orlon, 1953

What We Mean By “Better Living”

How advertising used the phrase “better living” to portray big business as a force for moral good and continuous progress.