Picture a refrigerator. Now zoom out. You’re probably also picturing a sink, a table, perhaps a few chairs, and a microwave all in its vicinity. We didn’t actually mention any of that stuff, but your brain knows that since fridges are usually found in the kitchen, those other appliances are likely nearby. When the mental... Continue Reading →

What if I told you that hundreds of people have met in many cities in the last four months to talk about basic income and to support a politician who has placed it at the center of his message? I just saw that happen in Boston. There were almost three hundred people there. I got... Continue Reading →

Around the world, people eat around 100 billion bananas every year. That creates around 270 million tons of waste–from peels to stalks–which are often burned or left to rot. Crop burning pollutes the air, and rotting releases methane into the atmosphere and contributes to global warming. Isaac Nichelson, a three-decade veteran of the sustainable fashion... Continue Reading →

For over a decade, architecture students at Rural Studio, Auburn University’s design-build program in a tiny town in West Alabama, have worked on a nearly impossible problem. How do you design a home that someone living below the poverty line can afford, but that anyone would want–while also providing a living wage for the local... Continue Reading →

Ikea, a popular furniture retail company that’s already made multiple sustainable advances, is removing all single-use plastic from their stores. By 2020, these products will be phased out, both in stores and in their in-store restaurants. The company also announced a flurry of other renewable commitments by 2030. Single-use plastic waste has been an ongoing... Continue Reading →

Want more evidence that America's economy needs more workers? For the first time in at least 20 years, there are now more job openings than there are people looking for work. The ratio of unemployed workers to job openings dropped below one in April for the first time since the Labor Department started collecting data... Continue Reading →

Your blood is like the Cliffs Notes to your health. It can tell a doctor everything from how well your organs are working to whether you need to add more iron to your diet. So it’s no surprise that blood tests are one of the most common diagnostic procedures in the world. And now, researchers... Continue Reading →

Family, friends, and fans of Stephen Hawking gathered in London on Friday to bid farewell to the renowned physicist, who died on March 14 at the age of 76. Hawking was laid to rest in Westminster Abbey, near the tombs of fellow British science luminaries Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin, an honor commensurate with the... Continue Reading →

As a linguist I dread the question, “what do you do?”, because when I answer “I’m a linguist” the inevitable follow-up question is: “How many languages do you speak?” That, of course, is not the point. While learning languages is a wonderful thing to do, academic linguistics is the scientific study of language. What I... Continue Reading →

The 50-year-old definition of capitalism in the U.S. is due for an update because of income inequality, according to billionaire hedge fund manager and philanthropist Paul Tudor Jones. "Capitalism may need modernizing," the reclusive trader told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Tuesday in a rare interview. "In 1985, 35 percent of nation's wealth was owned by... Continue Reading →