2019 June

Apple’s New iOS 13, a Mars Survival Course, and More News

Apple's iOS 13 is ready for public testing; a space camp is teaching students how to survive on Mars; and we've got some bike helmet suggestions for summer. Here's the news you need to know, in two minutes or less. Want to receive this two-minute roundup as an email every weekday? Sign up here! Today's […]

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A Device to Detect 'Aggression' in Schools Often Misfires

This story was co-published with ProPublica. Ariella Russcol specializes in drama at the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Queens, New York, and the senior’s performance on this April afternoon didn’t disappoint. While the library is normally the quietest room in the school, her ear-piercing screams sounded more like a horror movie than study […]

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The Challenge of Helping Blind People Navigate Indoors

Earlier this month, the charismatic, energetic mayor of Louisville, Kentucky, Greg Fischer, announced that the city would rename its airport the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport. Ali tourism, the mayor told NPR, is becoming a major Louisville brand, along with the Kentucky Derby and bourbon. Ali the humanitarian and champion athlete makes for a welcoming […]

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Apple’s New iOS 13, a Mars Survival Course, and More News

Apple's iOS 13 is ready for public testing; a space camp is teaching students how to survive on Mars; and we've got some bike helmet suggestions for summer. Here's the news you need to know, in two minutes or less. Want to receive this two-minute roundup as an email every weekday? Sign up here! Today's […]

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Apollo 11: Mission Out of Control

Shortly after noon on July 20, 1969, as they orbited some 70 miles above the surface of the moon, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin detached their lunar lander from the Apollo 11 command module in preparation for descent. From his window aboard the command vessel, Michael Collins watched as the lander rotated away and pitched […]

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Top 3 Bike Helmets for 2019

Innovative materials, integrated sensors, and Bluetooth tech are making the latest bike helmets safer than their ancestors. 1. Bontrager Blaze WaveCel Mountain Bike Helmet This helmet's honeycomb inner lining is made from a new material called WaveCel. On impact, the collapsible structure flexes and crumples, basically moving in all directions, depending on the angle and […]

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How 9 People Built an Illegal $5M Airbnb Empire in New York

Like many homes in popular tourist destinations, the boxy red brick townhouse on 31st Drive in Astoria, New York, was listed on Airbnb. City records indicate that the three-story building was designed as three separate apartments, but they didn’t last. Paris Martineau covers platforms, online influence, and social media manipulation for WIRED. A May visit […]

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Is Mars' Methane Spike a Sign of Life? Here’s How We’ll Know

Last Wednesday, the Curiosity rover detected in Mars’ atmosphere a high concentration of methane, a gas which is usually associated with microbial life on Earth. While it’s too early to determine whether the gas was produced by Martian microbes or geological processes, the discovery prompted NASA scientists to reschedule Curiosity’s weekend to perform follow-up experiments. […]

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While You Were Offline: The President Is Running for President, FYI

Wow. So, what all happened last week? Well, former vice president and presidential hopeful Joe Biden can't seem to get out of his own way, and people are starting to wonder if smartphones give you horns. So there's that. Also, Roy Moore, is inexplicably back in politics. Meanwhile, Slack went public; Radiohead's Thom Yorke is […]

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Argentina's Blackout and the Storm-Battered Future of the Grid

Early Sunday morning, all of mainland Argentina lost power in an “unprecedented” blackout event that left most of the country’s 44 million citizens in the dark until the evening. The blackout also extended to Uruguay, which is connected to Argentina’s power grid, and to limited parts of Chile. Although the exact cause of the blackout […]

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