The Controversy Behind Nike’s Vaporfly Running Shoe, Explained
Nike’s Vaporfly shoes have become a popular choice for both elite and amateur runners. But the shoes may soon be banned in professional competitions if World Athletics, the world governing body of track and field, decides they offer an unfair advantage.
Inside The Dark, Lucrative World Of Debt Collection
A dizzying array of variables affects a portfolio of debt’s true potential — the age of the debt, how many agencies have tried to collect on it, the size of the balances, the type of credit card, where the debtors live and the current economic climate.
How Singapore Solved Housing
Because 80% of the population lives in one of its one million public apartments, they carry no social stigma and are enjoyed by the rich and poor alike. Singapore has adopted such a unique set of policies that the usual measures fail to accurately capture just how far ahead it is.
How Philadelphia Became The One And Only Cream Cheese
There is only one cream cheese, and that is the brick-shaped silver package with the bright blue lettering: Philadelphia. Philadelphia cream cheese’s dominance isn’t a happy accident. Its cult popularity is likely the result of equal parts clever marketing and good timing.
The Real Problem With The Cruise Industry
What the novel coronavirus has revealed about the cruise industry is a “hidden in plain sight” problem — an international maritime regulatory structure that obfuscates and often ignores legal and social responsibility, accountability and culpability.
How The CIA Turned The Tables On Soviet Industrial Espionage
When French President Mitterrand tells President Reagan in July 1981 that the KGB has been stealing Western technology, it confirms Reagan’s distrust of the Soviet Union. Reagan fears that stolen technology will help the Soviet Union complete a giant engineering project, the Trans-Siberian pipeline.
Beyond The Growth Gospel
The Hotel Belvédère du Rayon Vert symbolizes the very empire these adherents of “degrowth,” as the movement is known, wish to overthrow: consumption, wealth, inequality, travel, and cement, the whole modern industrial condition.
3D Printing Homes For The Homeless In Austin
ICON, the 3D-printing construction company, has partnered with Mobile Loaves & Fishes (MLF) to build 3D-printed homes in Austin. The only neighborhood of its kind in the nation, Community First! Village provides affordable, permanent housing and a supportive community for men and women coming out of chronic homelessness.
My Summer Internship At Google Turned Me Off Silicon Valley Forever
Silicon Valley has much to offer the world. Life-altering technological innovations have been emerging from this region for years. But it’s not the place for me, a young queer Black woman who wants to do much more than work on ad software.
The Dark Secrets Lurking Inside Your Outdoor Gear
Allegations of abuse have surfaced at Bangladeshi and Malaysian factories whose multinational owner manufactures for some of the most popular outdoor brands we love. Here’s why that should surprise no one.
Why Every Japanese Criminal Is Guilty
Every system of justice is inevitably found to be unjust. The question is in which direction, and how far. This is a fairly basic outline of Japan’s idiosyncratic nature.
The Preposterous Success Story Of America’s Pillow King
The tale of Mike Lindell begins in a crack house. The 47-year-old divorced father of four had run out of crack, again. He realized that abusing crack and running a business weren’t compatible in the long term and vowed to fulfill his dream of making “the world’s best pillow.”
Airbus Beluga XL Enters Service
One of the aviation world’s most hotly anticipated planes, the Airbus Beluga XL, has entered full-time service. The super-transporter cargo plane is designed by Airbus to fly its aircraft components between production sites in Europe and its final assembly lines in Toulouse, France; Hamburg, Germany; and Tianjin, China.
James Niehues: The Man Behind The Map
If you are a skier or snowboarder, there is a good chance James Niehues has been your mountain guide. Throughout his 30 year career he has worked at the smallest hills and the most expansive resorts in North America. James has extensively researched, photographed and illustrated nearly every ski map used in North America over the last three decades.
What Was Libya Like 25 Years Ago?
Gaddafi’s 25 Years in Power (1994): A historic report filmed as Libya celebrated 25 years of Gaddafi’s rule. This short documentary challenges the West’s view of Libya and looks at Gaddafi’s struggles both at home and abroad.
Remembering The Nucleon, Ford’s 1958 Nuclear-powered Concept Car That Never Was
Nearly 30 years before the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, engineers at Ford designed and made a 3/8 scale model of a car, which it said would be powered by a nuclear reactor in the trunk.
Portrait Of A Place: Black Snow
On the last day of sunlight before polar winter descends, British directors James Newton and Edward Edwards visited Norilsk—which is closed to non-Russians—to capture the lives of the locals in Russia’s coldest city. During winter, temperatures can drop to -55 and the Sun does not rise for 40 days.
Inside Hong Kong’s Cage Homes
Hong Kong is the most expensive housing market in the world. It has been ranked as the least affordable housing market on Earth for eight years in a row. The inflated prices are forcing Hongkongers to squeeze into unconventionally small spaces that can affect their quality of life.
The Way We Work Is Killing Us
In the United States, workers work among the longest, most extreme, and most irregular hours; have no guarantee to paid sick days, paid vacation, or paid family leave; and pay more for health insurance, yet are sicker and more stressed out than workers in other advanced economies.
How Netflix Turned Bill Clinton’s Impeachment Into A Growth Hack
The reason we might all be using Netflix today could have a lot to do with a marketing stunt involving the grand jury testimony that got Bill Clinton impeached. Netflix’s wild bet on political scandal succeeded in almost every single way a story like this possibly could.
“A Failure Of The Imagination”, The Story Of A Zero-Waste Restaurant
Five years ago, Douglas McMaster opened the restaurant Silo, hoping to change the unsustainable practices of modern food systems. His aim was simple, yet frighteningly ambitious: create an award-winning menu using a zero-waste food system designed from scratch. This is the story of that restaurant’s first five years.