October 27, 2015
Today’s five minutes with the author features Colin Klein, author of What the Body Commands. Here he asks us to consider the pain of a sprained ankle, and informs us that pains are unusual compared to other sensations.
October 15, 2015
We note with sadness the passing on October 10 of Hilla Becher, one half of a photographic team (with her husband, Bernd) that created a vast photographic archive of the industrial archives of Europe and America. The Bechers’ photographs – of mineheads, gas tanks, cooling towers and other structures – were immediately recognizable for their monumentality, precision, austerity, and rigorous objectivity.
October 13, 2015
In honor of Ada Lovelace Day, an international celebration of the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), Yasmin Kafai and Jane Margolis reflect on the legacy of the British mathematician, who is famously regarded as the first female computer programmer.
October 7, 2015
What exactly is the digital cloud? And where did it come from? In A Prehistory of the Cloud, Tung-Hui Hu—a former network engineer and current professor at University of Michigan—traces its origins and examines the gap between the real and the virtual in our understanding of the cloud.
October 2, 2015
Yayoi Kusama, the most famous Japanese artist to emerge after World War II, rose quickly in the art world exhibiting with superstar artists such as Andy Warhol and Claes Oldenburg. Though Kusama may not be as well-known as Warhol and Oldenburg, her work has recently gone through a resurgence in scholarly interest along with a series of major exhibitions. Midori Yamamura’s new book Yayoi Kusama: Inventing the Singular strays from the biographical and emphasizes how her work influenced the art world.
October 1, 2015
Can a handshake make or break a business deal? We talk to Sanda Dolcos (University of Illinois) about the science behind body language and brain activity for this month’s Spotlight on Science Q&A. Dolcos’ article, “The Power of a Handshake: Neural Correlates of Evaluative Judgments in Observed Social Interactions,” appeared in the December 2012 issue of the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. It has been referenced by Forbes and The Huffington Post and shared by tweeters from all around the world, including Saudi Arabia, Japan, Iceland, and Peru.
September 3, 2015
We’ve all heard jokes about students taking basket weaving classes, but have you ever wondered how science informs the craft? We talk to Amit Zoran (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) about digital fabrication for our September 2015 Spotlight on Science post. Zoran’s article “Hybrid Basketry: Interweaving Digital Practice within Contemporary Craft” appeared in the August 2013 issue of Leonardo.
September 2, 2015
We are sad to share the news that Simon Benninga passed away on Saturday, August 29.
August 26, 2015
There are many books on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but there are few that view it through the lens of architecture. Sharon Rotbard’s White City, Black City looks at the troubled relationship of the “White City”, Tel Aviv, and the “Black City”, Jaffa, and how it has shaped the current situation in the region. Our latest Q & A has Rotbard discussing Tel Aviv’s founding myth, its Bauhaus architecture, and how recognizing Tel Aviv’s rise at the expense of Jaffa can be used to reconcile the conflict.
August 14, 2015
Everyone knows that we are living an increasing amount of our lives online. But who’s performing the digital reckoning, watching the profiles we create and judging us on that basis? Hassan Masum and Mark Tovey have been thinking about that unsettling question – they are the authors of The Reputation Society: How Online Opinions Are Reshaping the Offline World. They sent this beautiful reflection on the algorithms and other “digital angels” who now watch over us.