London’s River Thames Is One Of The Great Environmental Comebacks
In the 1950s, scientists officially declared the River Thames biologically dead. The water was so polluted with sewage, industrial runoff and toxic metals that virtually no life could survive in it. Seventy years later, that same river is home to harbour porpoises, thriving populations of wading birds, and more than 125 species of fish, and […]
The Oscars Are Leaving Hollywood For The First Time In Over 20 Years
For more than two decades, the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood has been synonymous with one of the most watched nights in entertainment. That is about to change. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced a 10-year agreement with AEG to move the Oscars to the Peacock Theatre at LA Live starting in […]
Boy Learns Something Unsettling About Peanut Butter So He Built His Own Brand
Franco Leonardi was 18 and still finishing high school in Argentina when a family contact in the peanut industry told him something he could not stop thinking about. A significant portion of commercial peanut butter, the contact explained, is made using peanuts that cannot be sold in whole form: older batches, cracked kernels, product that […]
From Janitor To Doctor At Yale
When Shay Taylor-Allen found out she had matched with her first-choice medical residency at Yale New Haven Hospital, she said she was jumping up and down so hard she thought the concrete might break. The reaction makes a lot more sense when you know the full story. The 32-year-old, who is about to graduate from […]
The Community That Proved Parents Are Not Powerless Against Phones
In the small Irish seaside town of Greystones, just south of Dublin, something genuinely unusual is happening: children are growing up without smartphones, and most of them say they are fine with it. In 2023, local parents, school principals and community members launched a voluntary program called It Takes a Village, asking families to agree […]
Wikipedia Just Officially Banned AI From Writing Its Articles
Wikipedia, one of the most visited websites in the world, has officially banned the use of artificial intelligence to write or rewrite its articles. The new policy, which passed with 44 votes in favor and just two opposed among the site’s volunteer editor community, states clearly that AI-generated text often violates Wikipedia’s core content standards […]
The World’s First Quantum Battery Could Change How Everything Charges
Everything you have ever charged, from your phone to your electric car, relies on the same basic chemistry that has powered batteries for well over a century. Australian scientists just took a meaningful step toward changing that entirely. A team led by CSIRO in partnership with the University of Melbourne and RMIT has built and […]
Paid Leave Access Expands To Millions of Americans
A record number of Americans now have access to paid leave for the first time in history, thanks to a steady wave of state-level action that has quietly transformed the landscape of workers’ rights over the past two decades. A new report from the National Partnership for Women and Families found that 14 state paid […]
Ancient Handprints Found To Be The Oldest Known Art On Earth
Somewhere on the limestone walls of a cave on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia, a human hand was pressed against stone more than 67,800 years ago and traced in pigment, leaving behind what is now confirmed as the oldest known piece of art ever created by our species. An international team led by researchers […]
Pen Pals Evolved, How Sending A Letter Is Changing Lives
In an age when so much human connection happens through screens, a small charity in Shropshire, England is doing something refreshingly old-fashioned: handwriting letters. The Omega charity’s Letterbox program has now exchanged more than 15,000 handwritten letters between volunteers and people who are elderly, vulnerable or socially isolated, marking a significant milestone for a scheme […]