The Key to Environmentally-Friendly Urban Planning
Manhattan and Dubai are both bustling, crowded cities with dense populations. So do Manhattanites have smaller ecological footprints?
The Anthropology of the Office Email
Researchers learn a lot from studying office workers' email. But the question remains: do they learn more about the people, or about the medium itself?
Has the Internet Weakened Our Political Institutions?
According to our columnist, the internet has destabilized many of the informal institutions that underpin our democracy.
Epidemics as Entertainment
Plagues capture the public imagination in ways that other less terrifying--but more deadly--diseases don't.
The Most Abundant Creature You’ve Never Heard Of
Conodonts are actually older than the oldest previously known vertebrates, making them the earliest known “skeletonized” vertebrates in existence.
Why Do Some People Have Curly Hair and Others Straight?
Either environmental or sexual selective pressure began acting on hair after humans began dispersing out of Africa.
Is the 30-Year-Long Styrofoam War Nearing Its End?
Neither banning nor recycling will rid us of Styrofoam. Can we live without it?
The Lost Paradise of Los Angeles
Los Angeles's bountiful agricultural land was devoured by runaway suburbanization, a process which began long before the post-war era.
Why Would Scientists Give an Octopus Ecstasy?
In a perplexing recent study, researchers dosed octopuses. Turns out, scientists have long studied the similarities between cephalopod and human brains.
Porklife: Building a Better Pig
Can we reconcile our growing appetite for meat with our desire to treat factory animals better?