When the French government announced a remarkable new invention by painter Louis Daguerre, American inventor Samuel Morse sensed its commercial potential, sending his imagination wild.
Sarah Kate Gillespie | Mar 16, 2020
Lin Yutang's MingKwai typewriter is perhaps the most well-known — and most poorly understood — Chinese typewriter in history.
Thomas Mullaney | Mar 12, 2020
Even if they disappear into the dustbin of payment arcana tomorrow, signature pads should not escape our notice.
Bill Maurer | Mar 9, 2020
In the mid-2000s, RFID drew criticism from privacy experts and became the target of far-right conspiracies. It’s poised to re-enter the public imagination.
Jordan Frith | Mar 5, 2020
A rehashed narrative about waste dumping is only blinding the public to far more massive consequences of mining and manufacturing.
Josh Lepawsky | Mar 2, 2020
With explosions taking place virtually, how much harder will it be for weapons scientists to confront the destructive power of their work and its ethical implications?
Sherry Turkle | Feb 29, 2020
Mayors and their municipal staff should not be considered visionaries, but a coordinated team of managers and janitors.
Alain Bertaud | Feb 27, 2020
Artist Michael Rakowitz charts the historical context and aftermath of a concert — at the Ramallah Cultural Palace in Palestine — that never happened.
Anthony Downey | Feb 24, 2020
Technologies will soon make it far easier for anyone to make a custom robot. Will this result in a zoo of obnoxious, exotic new creatures?
Illah Reza Nourbakhsh | Feb 20, 2020
A harbinger of the ways in which modern life would become dominated by mechanical motion, the bicycle was a fitting subject for the first motion picture.
Bruce Bennett | Feb 13, 2020
The creative process demands openness to the unexpected and a recognition that what we “have in mind” may not be at all what is beginning to transpire before us.
Christopher Bardt | Feb 10, 2020
Incentives are as risky in parenting as they are in business.
Joshua Gans | Feb 6, 2020
