Discoverology • Browse Less, Know More.

Browse less, know more.

The most interesting stories, videos and
products from around the web.

The Economics Of Airline Class

The Economics Of Airline Class

Business Economics Videos

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.

Radical Hydrogen-Boron Reactor Leapfrogs Current Nuclear Fusion Tech

Radical Hydrogen-Boron Reactor Leapfrogs Current Nuclear Fusion Tech

Innovation Science

HB11 Energy is a spin-out company that originated at the University of New South Wales, and it announced today a swag of patents through Japan, China and the USA protecting its unique approach to fusion energy generation. Fusion, of course, is the long-awaited clean, safe theoretical solution to humanity’s energy needs.

Revisiting An American Town Where Black People Weren’t Welcome After Dark

Revisiting An American Town Where Black People Weren’t Welcome After Dark

History Life Long Reads

Anna is a city of a little more than 4,000 people located in the middle of Union County, where soybean fields and flatlands to the north give way to the forests and sandstone canyons of southern Illinois. Most people I met, wish the racist lore behind the city’s name would go away. So why hasn’t it?

How A Good Scam Can Bypass Our Defences

How A Good Scam Can Bypass Our Defences

Crime Long Reads

Scammers exploit cognitive errors, like “optimism bias.” Most people think they’re a little bit charmed, a little luckier than average. We harbour a personal fable that things are likely to go well for us.

I Was a Warehouse Wage Slave

I Was a Warehouse Wage Slave

Business Long Reads

My brief, backbreaking, rage-inducing, low-paying, dildo-packing time inside the online-shipping machine, under conditions that were surprisingly demoralizing and dehumanizing, even to someone who’s spent a lot of time working in warehouses, which I have.

How To Redesign Cities To Fight Loneliness

How To Redesign Cities To Fight Loneliness

Architecture Cities Life

What do cities have to do with loneliness? “The way we build and organize our cities can help or hinder social connection,” reads a Grattan Institute report. It’s not that the built environment “causes” interaction, but it can certainly either enable or constrain potential interaction.

The Boss Who Put Everyone On 70k

The Boss Who Put Everyone On 70k

Business

In 2015, the boss of a card payments company in Seattle introduced a $70,000 minimum salary for all of his 120 staff – and personally took a pay cut of $1m. Five years later he’s still on the minimum salary, and says the gamble has paid off.

The Biggest Corruption Scandal In Latin America’s History

The Biggest Corruption Scandal In Latin America’s History

Crime Videos

In 2014, the largest corruption scandal in Latin America’s history erupted in Brazil. It involved bribes between Petrobras, the largest state-owned oil company on the continent, and dozens of engineering firms. It also involved politicians, including three Brazilian presidents.

What Happened When Oslo Decided To Make Its Downtown Basically Car-Free?

What Happened When Oslo Decided To Make Its Downtown Basically Car-Free?

Cities

It was a huge success: Parking spots are now bike lanes, transit is fast and easy, and the streets (and local businesses) are full of people. Several other cities are also working to reduce car use, such as Madrid, which limits access to the city center for anyone other than the people who live there.

Virginia Mori

Inspiration
Virginia Mori
Silicon Valley's Online Slave Market

Silicon Valley's Online Slave Market

Crime Videos

At the center of this powerful investigative film is Fatou, a 16 year old in Kuwait City who has been there for nine months. We follow her rescue and journey back home to Guinea, West Africa and ask: what’s being done to control the apps promoted on Google, Apple and Facebook-owned Instagram?

The Dark History Of How Coffee Took Over The World

The Dark History Of How Coffee Took Over The World

Food History

Four hundred years ago, Coffea arabica, a tropical shrub bearing glossy green leaves and bright-red berries, was virtually unknown outside of the Arab world and the corner of Ethiopia where it had been discovered in the ninth century.

Give Me Capitalism Or Give Me Death

Give Me Capitalism Or Give Me Death

Economics Politics

Politicians are floating the idea that the economy supersedes the needs of living, breathing human beings; cruise and airline companies are demanding bailouts and full control over the terms; senators are doing crimes in broad daylight; and billionaire corporatists who did the same are asking regular people for money.

The Rise Of The Wind Ships

The Rise Of The Wind Ships

Design Innovation Nature

Commercial shipping – for many years resistant to the low carbon revolution sweeping other areas of transportation – is changing fast. Could a new generation of innovative propulsion technologies that harness the power of the wind help the shipping industry clean up its act?

For Bumble, The Future Isn’t Female, It’s Female Marketing

For Bumble, The Future Isn’t Female, It’s Female Marketing

Apps Long Reads Media Tech

Whitney Wolfe Herd set out to build a safer dating app for women, but it’s not clear that she’s made a measurable difference. According to a company user survey, about a third of Bumble women had received lewd photos from men, whether through text or other social media that Bumble couldn’t control.

Need A Happiness Boost? Spend Your Money To Buy Time, Not More Stuff

Need A Happiness Boost? Spend Your Money To Buy Time, Not More Stuff

Life

A recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that when people spend money on time-saving services such as a house cleaner, lawn care or grocery delivery, it can make them feel a little happier. By comparison, money spent on material purchases — aka things — does not boost positive emotions the way we might expect.

Inside The Most Watched YouTube Channel In The World

Inside The Most Watched YouTube Channel In The World

Apps Business Tech

India’s T-Series built an online empire from Bollywood. Now it has to survive Netflix. Bhushan Kumar argues that T-Series has no reason to fear this invasion, and not just because it sits behind a moat filled with more than 200 million YouTube subscribers.

The Last Giraffes On Earth

The Last Giraffes On Earth

Long Reads Nature

The planet’s tallest animal is in far greater danger than people might think. Until recently, giraffes have suffered from surprising scientific neglect. Few researchers have studied them in the wild, so even basic aspects of their lives remain mysterious.

Matt Rota

Inspiration
Matt Rota
The Secret History Of Facial Recognition

The Secret History Of Facial Recognition

History Long Reads Tech

Sixty years ago, a sharecropper’s son invented a technology to identify faces. Then the record of his role all but vanished. He died on October 4, 1995. His obituary in the Austin American-Statesman made no mention of his work on facial recognition. Who was Woody Bledsoe, and who was he working for?

The American Restaurant Is On Life Support

The American Restaurant Is On Life Support

Food Long Reads

The restaurant industry is in a scary place, one that fairly guarantees heartbreak. We’re eating at street-corner stalls and food trucks, in front of the TV and at the grocery—everywhere but restaurants. They might not be here when we get back.

When Antarctica Was Green

When Antarctica Was Green

Nature Videos World

Before the start of the Eocene Epoch about 56 million years ago–Antarctica was still joined to both Australia and South America. And it turns out that a lot of what we recognize about the southern hemisphere can be traced back to that time when Antarctica was green.

How Millennials Became The Burnout Generation

How Millennials Became The Burnout Generation

Health Life Long Reads Psychology

We’re spoiled, entitled, lazy, and failures at what’s come to be known as “adulting,” a word invented by millennials as a catchall for the tasks of self-sufficient existence. I couldn’t figure out why small, straightforward tasks on my to-do list felt so impossible. The answer is both more complex and far simpler than I expected.

What Do Political Databases Know About You?

What Do Political Databases Know About You?

Explainers Politics

American citizens are inundated with political messages—on social networks, in their news feeds, through email, text messages, and phone calls. If you live in the US, you’re almost certainly being tracked by political organizations. They know a lot about you—but some data is just guesswork.

An Ode To Being Old

An Ode To Being Old

Business Health Life

Success in business, even in the fast-paced start-up world, isn’t just about age-related smarts. Wisdom, a deeper kind of knowing that can only be gained through experience, matters too. And apparently, it matters quite a bit.

Joseph Ford

Inspiration
Joseph Ford
The Day The Pirates Came

The Day The Pirates Came

Business Long Reads

For Sudeep Choudhury, work on merchant ships promised adventure and a better life. But a voyage on an oil tanker in West Africa, in dangerous seas far from home, would turn the young graduate’s life upside down. His fate would come to depend on a band of drug-fuelled jungle pirates – and the whims of a mysterious figure called The King.

Zaha Hadid Architects' Giant Starfish-Shaped Airport Opens In Beijing

Zaha Hadid Architects' Giant Starfish-Shaped Airport Opens In Beijing

Architecture Cities Videos

Zaha Hadid Architects has completed Beijing Daxing International Airport, a five-pronged building that is one of the largest passenger terminals in the world. Designed by the late Zaha Hadid and current studio principal Patrik Schumacher, the 700,000-square-metre airport to serve Beijing has been designed to be as compact as possible.

"Coyote", Award-Winning Animation Short Film

"Coyote", Award-Winning Animation Short Film

Videos

A coyote loses his wife and children from an attack of wolfs. Anguished from human emotions he‘s trying to process the experience. Besides grief and delusion, evil takes up more and more space. Directed by Lorenz Wunderle.

I Accidentally Uncovered A Nationwide Scam On Airbnb

I Accidentally Uncovered A Nationwide Scam On Airbnb

Long Reads Tech

An undetected scam created by some person or organization that had figured out just how easy it is to exploit Airbnb’s poorly written rules in order to collect thousands of dollars through phony listings, fake reviews, and, when necessary, intimidation.

How Slack Ruined Work

How Slack Ruined Work

Apps Business Tech

Slack is a particularly “scary offender” in stopping people getting their work done because it encourages them to be constantly distracted. It’s scary because messenger-based systems directly tap into how humans seek to reward themselves, and the long term result is unhealthy.

Switzerland’s ‘Secret’ Fifth Language

Switzerland’s ‘Secret’ Fifth Language

Life World

Head to medieval Basse-Ville, caught between the German- and French-speaking divisions of Fribourg, and you’ll find yourself in a no-man’s land where the two languages have become one: le Bolze.

We use cookies on this website to analyse your use of our products and services, provide content from third parties and assist with our marketing efforts. Learn more about our use of cookies and available controls: cookie policy. Please be aware that your experience may be disrupted until you accept cookies.