Students are getting out of debt and Democrats are about to sweat, but first: a cartoon about online shipping. 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 NewsHow to watch tonight’s Democratic DebateSix presidential candidates will take the…
I’ve never really understood the appeal of casinos, especially slot machines. Pouring time and money into something that’s expressly designed to make everyone lose in the long run seems, to me, uniquely masochistic. Anyway! The ninth Democratic presidential primary debate takes place in Las Vegas tonight, just a few day before the Nevada caucus on…
The broadband industry is suing Maine to stop a web-browsing privacy law similar to the one killed by Congress and President Donald Trump in 2017. Industry groups claim the state law violates First Amendment protections on free speech and the Supremacy Clause of the US Constitution.ARS TECHNICAThis story originally appeared on Ars Technica, a trusted…
The laws of physics, as experts currently understand them, dictate the following: Every fundamental particle has an antimatter twin. The electron, quark, and muon, for example, are paired with the positron, antiquark, and antimuon, respectively. Each antiparticle weighs exactly the same as its twin, but exhibits precisely the opposite electric charge. If the twins meet…
The broom challenge is back! This fun little trick returns every few years on social media. It’s supposed to show a gravitational alignment (whatever that is) among the planets that allows a broom to stand up by itself. It’s super special and rare. At least that’s what I hear from Caltech high-energy physicists and NASA…
If you are booked into jail in New Jersey, a judge will decide whether to hold you until trial or set you free. One factor the judge must weigh: the result from an algorithm called PSA that estimates how likely you are to skip court or commit another crime.New Jersey adopted algorithmic risk assessment in…
Very few people know what it’s like to be in an actual sword fight. Yet, thanks to Star Wars, two volumes of Kill Bill, and loads of other pop culture blade duels, it’s easy for anyone to feel like they know how to joust. It’s easy to imagine the moments of sustained, perpetual grace, both…
Jeannie Nguyen’s home is full of precious, expensive things, all of them rooted in dirt: the spidery tendrils of a philodendron tortum, the scaly leaves of a piper parmatum. There is an enormous variegated monstera with big white splotches, like the splatter on a painter’s jeans. There is a tassel fern, spiny as a pipe…
The Svartsengi power station sits on the banks of the Blue Lagoon, an artificial geothermal spring and one of Iceland’s most popular tourist attractions. For decades, it has supplied Icelanders with geothermal electricity and heat. The rub is that extracting this renewable energy from the ground requires fossil fuels to run the pumps. So in…
Projekt Melody doesn’t do much but sway, but every swish of her cartoon hips is met with a horny digital howl. When she takes off her barely-there top, revealing what she calls her “big ol’ anime titties,” her fans shower her with hearts and wide-eyed emoji. When she uploads a 13-minute lecture about whether hentai,…
