What Black One Direction Fans Reveal About Activism and Fandom
Gabrielle Foster had been a fan of One Direction since she was 11 years old. “We all come from different backgrounds. We all bond over Harry, but we don’t personally…
The Sexist Pseudoscience at the Heart of Biology
For years, studying zoology made me feel like a sad misfit. Not because I loved spiders, enjoyed cutting up dead things I’d found by the side of the road, or…
How the Amish Use Technology
Throughout the industrial age and now in the information age, the Amish have adhered to the long-standing tradition of making as a primary form of work. The fact that the…
How Marginalized Workers Can Make the Most of Remote Work
So much of what marginalized people go through at work comes down to the workplace environment: how people in the office get along with one another, who asks whom out…
The Internet Origin Story You Know Is Wrong
But we’ve been telling the same story about ARPANET and the web for 25 years, and it isn’t satisfying anymore. It doesn’t help us understand the social internet we have…
People Are Dating All Wrong, According to Data Science
Joel scheduled a talk in October 2019 at the University of Waterloo in Canada with the straightforward title: “Can we help people pick better romantic partners?” So, can Samantha Joel—teaming…
How to Embrace Despair in the Age of Climate Change
Via the digital channels of Extinction Rebellion LA, Charlie came across an article I published arguing that activism wasn’t always the answer to eco-anxiety and eco-grief. Afterward, Charlie reached out…
A Woman’s Guide to the Most Toxic Trolls on the Internet
One of the most surprising phenomena I’ve encountered since I began making television appearances in 2017 is the sudden proliferation of men in my Twitter mentions, my email inbox, my…
Modern Medicine Fails People With Chronic Pain
I never knew what my back did for me until I broke it. Turns out, it did everything. It helped me stand, sit, and lie down. It helped me walk…
The End of Astronauts—and the Rise of Robots
How much do we need humans in space? How much do we want them there? Astronauts embody the triumph of human imagination and engineering. Their efforts shed light on the…