It looks like a saxophone but plays 512 notes — many you’ve never heard before
How a jazz musician created the Infinitone to challenge Western musical ideas.
By Tony Rehagen
Mom and dad aren’t in the car, but they’re still watching
By Glenn McDonald
These scientists want to make your brain enjoy broccoli
By Stav Dimitropoulos
Soon we’ll be in crowds again. Are we ready?
Gathering again will be a joyous step in collective healing — and it may come more naturally than we think.
By Schuyler Velasco
Stories in Society
After COVID, will the flu make a comeback?
By Veronique Greenwood
We’re all moving in together
By Jenni Gritters
Harness the power of words
By Schuyler Velasco
Getting out the vote — from out of town
By Schuyler Velasco
72 years before George Floyd, this police killing sparked national protests
By Schuyler Velasco
Stories in Humans+Robots
A quantum-computing app led me on an adventure in my own town
By Glenn McDonald
If an app can help you spy, can you resist?
By Alix Strauss
This scientist sees a way to spot the next pandemic
By Erick Trickey
When users get mean, these chatbots sass back
By Stav Dimitropoulos
Forget the class guinea pig. Meet the class robot.
By Hannah Thomasy
Listen
Can ambient music make you more productive? This company thinks so.
At Brain.fm, human composers and AI collaborate on instrumental music.
By Jim Sullivan
The Experience Playlist: Winter
By Erick Trickey
Stories in Culture
These films are guided tours of lost urban landscapes
At Rick Prelinger’s film screenings, talking is encouraged — and memories abound.
By Ezra Haber Glenn
This Instagram account is fighting to make dermatology less white
By Rochaun Meadows-Fernandez
Stories in Cities+Nature
With a settlement named ‘Pandemic,’ housing activists in Cape Town are tackling inequality
By Ryan Lenora Brown and Vincent Lali
Rooting out a little-known danger of urban gardening
By Hannah Thomasy
The future of urban commuting has one wheel
By Glenn McDonald
A canoe, a GPS, and my quest for the ultimate social distancing
By Matt Crossman
Fresh (virtual) air will do you good
By Hannah Thomasy
As sea levels rise, a Dutch neighborhood floats up
Schoonschip, a real-life ‘Waterworld,’ is built for a climate-adaptive future. But is it a realistic solution?
By Stav Dimitropoulos
Photos by Isabel NabuursTry a Quiz
Your brain vs. artificial intelligence
To understand how AI works, you have to understand human cognition, and recognize the processes we take for granted.
See how your choices add up for the climate
When planning a wedding, taking a trip, or hosting a dinner party, which trade-offs are you willing to make to reduce your carbon footprint?
What would you do? Take an immigrant’s journey.
Here are eight immigrant stories, told through composite characters but based on real laws and historically documented scenarios. Follow their paths, and see how you would respond to the choices they faced.