Stanford VR coral world

Can Virtual Reality Emerge as a Tool for Conservation?

New advances in technology are sparking efforts to use virtual reality to help people gain a deeper appreciation of environmental challenges.
Enigma machine

Will Reading Romance Novels Make Artificial Intelligence More Human?

Google is feeding its natural language AI thousands of romance novels in an effort to humanize its “conversational tone.” Will this give it "humanness?"
Turkish delight

Why Was Turkish Delight C.S. Lewis’s Guilty Pleasure?

Austerity during WWII was hardly the time for pounds of exotic candy. Yet The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe prominently features Turkish delight.
NYSE floor

Should We Set a Speed Limit on High-Speed Trading?

Can slower financial traders find a haven in a world of high-speed algorithms?
Philando Castile shooting video

How Do I (Not) Look? Live Feed Video and Viral Black Death

When we have the choice to look, we are bound ethically and politically to what we witness and what we do with what we have seen.
A CEO who has the head of a deer setting at a desk with a typewriter, a telephone, and a Boss mug filled with coffee

What’s (Still) Wrong with Executive Compensation in America

Executive compensation reflects neither productivity nor demand for skills in a particular sector. Yet some CEOs are still receiving 881 percent raises.
Queen Zenobia

More Than an Aria Written Over Rice: Rediscovering a Lost Rossini Opera

Rossini's "lost opera," Aureliano in Palmira is making a comeback with a new production. The opera's history involves antiquity, archeology, and Bugs Bunny.
Earbuds

Why Do Some People Get “Skin Orgasms” from Listening to Music?

Have you ever been listening to a great piece of music and felt a chill run up your spine? The science behind "skin orgasms," or frisson.
A Republican satire on Bryan's "Cross of Gold" speech

Has the Famous Populist “Cross of Gold” Speech Been Unfairly Tarred by Anti-Semitism?

July 9 marks the 120th anniversary of Populist leader William Jennings Bryan’s famous "Cross of Gold" speech at the 1896 Democratic National Convention.
Colored illustration of blueberries

The Delicious Origins of the Domesticated Blueberry

Frederick Coville and Elizabeth White, two strangers, domesticated the blueberry together. They valued beauty and worked to support local communities.