How Barcelona Is Taking City Streets Back From Cars
The city of Barcelona is testing out an urban design trick that can give cities back to pedestrians. It involves taking nine square city blocks and closing off the inside to through traffic. Buses, big freight trucks — or any vehicles that are trying to get from one part of town to the next — have to drive around the perimeter.
Former FBI Agent Explains How To Read Body Language
Former FBI agent and body language expert Joe Navarro breaks down the various ways we communicate non-verbally. What does it mean when we fold our arms? Why do we interlace our fingers? Can a poker player actually hide their body language?
Short Film: “Dirty Machines: The End Of History”
“Dirty Machines: The End of History” a highly polished sci-fi teaser for a longer-form series that envisions a future where time travel has become a form of tourism. It’s stylish, but beyond the undeniable aesthetic panache, Matthew Olson’s film feels completely transformative as a world-building exercise.
How Air Pollution Is Doing More Than Killing Us
Emerging studies show that air pollution is linked to impaired judgement, mental health problems, poorer performance in school and most worryingly perhaps, higher levels of crime. These findings are all the more alarming, given that more than half of the world’s population now live in urban environments.
The Citarum: The World’s Most Polluted River
The Citarum River in Indonesia is the world’s most polluted river. One of the main polluters is the fashion industry: 500 textile factories throw their wastewater directly into the river. The filmmakers teamed up with international scientists to investigate the causes and consequences of this pollution.
How Artificial Intelligence Will Change Architecture
Artificial Intelligence remains a Pandora’s Box of possibilities, with the potential to enhance the safety, efficiency, and sustainability of cities, or destroy the potential for humans to work, interact, and live a private life.
Skywatch, A Sci-Fi Proof Of Concept Short Film by Colin Levy
When two outcast teens hack into a ubiquitous drone delivery system to pull a prank on their neighbor, they accidentally crash-land a dangerous prototype – and find themselves entangled in a life-and-death conspiracy. Six years in the making, funded via Kickstarter, and crafted by volunteering vfx artists across the world.
In San Francisco, Tech Money Doesn’t Buy Happiness
In the midst of a housing crisis, an injection of cash into the superheated real-estate market seems likely to cause an uptick in evictions and displacement.
The Economics Of Airline Class
The story of the development of airline classes really isn’t the story of how airlines developed more and more luxurious seats, it’s how they cut costs to allow more and more people to fly. It’s also a fascinating demonstration of economics.
Lifetime Free 1st Class Air Travel Pass: A Disaster
In 1982, American Airlines had an idea to offer a lifetime free first-class air travel pass to its wealthiest customers. The person holding this pass could fly on American Airlines at any time it wanted, to any destination it wanted, for as many times it wanted, for the rest of its life after paying a one-time fixed membership fee.
Disneyfication: Oversize Commercial Images Covering Up Less Glamorous Reality
Theo Derksen’s Disneyfication has been over twenty years in the making. A book of vivid color double-page spreads, it offers a global vision of the oversize invasion of visual imagery in metropolises including Bucharest, Berlin, Egypt, Tokyo, Dubai, Chongqing, Shanghai, Beijing, Singapore and Las Vegas.
The Economic Failure Of Venezuela
In terms of countries that had it easy Venezuela by all counts should be at the top of the list, it is home to the largest oil deposits in the world, easily beating out the typical oil giants like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab eremites. But they squandered it.
Why Aren’t Millennials Buying Homes?
In the UK, only one in four middle-income millennials are on the housing ladder. Twenty years ago, 65% of this group owned homes. What’s changed? Is it possible to buy a house without help? And with more people privately renting, what are the implications for starting families, retirement and society at large?
The Food Deserts Of Memphis: Inside America’s Hunger Capital
In the ‘food deserts’ of Memphis, Tennessee, dominated by fast food outlets and convenience stores, locals lack what seems a basic human right in the richer half of the city: a supermarket. With a big gap in life expectancy, are these Americans doomed to die younger than their neighbours – or can they fight for their right to nutrition?
Detroit’s Salt Mine: A City Beneath The City
This gigantic mine, 1,160 feet beneath the surface, spreads out under Detroit over more than 1,400 acres with 50 miles of roads. A huge sea covering the region evaporated more than 400 million years ago, forming salt deposits that were gradually buried by glacial activity.
How A Small Texas City Rewrote The Rules Of Development
Last month, Bastrop, Texas, adopted a new building code, known as Bastrop Building Block, which radically alters how the city will approach development. The new flexible system was designed to address three interrelated issues hitting municipalities across the county: population growth, aging infrastructure, and outdated development patterns.
Living Off The Grid In Paradise
Warrick Mitchell lives deep in one of the world’s most remote locations: Fiordland, New Zealand. His home in the country’s oldest national park is nestled in a vast wildness accessible only by boat or airplane, a four day’s walk from the nearest road.
Why Utah Drops Fish Out Of Airplanes Into Their Mountain Lakes
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources drops hundreds of thousands of fish out of airplanes into their mountain lakes every summer to restock them for fishing and hiking season. Without these aerial fish dumps, the state’s high-altitude southern and central lakes would be fishless.
Heatworks’ Tetra, An Internet-Connected Compact Countertop Dishwasher
Tetra is an internet-connected compact countertop dishwasher invented by Heatworks. It requires no plumbing and can be placed and used anywhere with a standard electrical outlet. With a smaller capacity than the average dishwasher available on the market today, Tetra holds two full place settings or 10 plates or 12 pint glasses.
Science Fiction Short Film: Others Will Follow
The lone survivor of the first mission to Mars uses his last moments to pass the torch of inspiration. Others Will Follow was inspired by a speech written for President Nixon to deliver in the event that the Apollo 11 astronauts were stranded on the moon.
“Bloom”, A Darkly Comedic Look Into The Bad Side Of Relationships
Andrew comes home from a trip, finds a rose petal in his bed and becomes immediately convinced that his girlfriend is cheating on him. The confrontation that ensues ranges from blackly comic to something decidedly darker as words escalate into distinctly visceral consequences.