Number of words: 1,694 If you’ve walked on a rocky shore at low tide, and had the unfortunate experience of slipping on the moss-covered rocks, chances are your bleeding hands or legs have met acorn barnacles and their sharp-as-knives shells.These animals attach themselves to rocks on the shore and are seen in abundant numbers – … Read more

Number of words: 847 WHEN AMANDA WANKLIN and Michael Biggs fell in love, they “didn’t give a toss” about the challenges they might face as a biracial couple, Amanda says. “What was more important was what we wanted together.” They settled down in Birmingham, England, eager to start a family. On July 3, 2006, Amanda … Read more

Number of words: 8,638 Have you ever heard of Design Thinking? Your answer to that question will depend largely on where you sit in the world. The phrase Design Thinking is known almost universally in design circles. It’s made its way around networks of business hype more than once. Hell, the folks at Singularity University … Read more

Number of words: 1,281 We’ve all sat in those presentations.  A speaker with a stream of slides full of text, monotonously reading them off as we read along.  We’re so used to it we expect it.  We accept it.  We even consider it ‘learning’. As an educator I push against ‘death by PowerPoint’ and I’m … Read more

Number of words: 1,185 Entering a branch of Don Quijote, the ubiquitous Japanese discount chain, can be a jarring experience. At the entrance of every location is an array of exotic fish that would put many pet stores to shame. It might feel like a drugstore inside, with rows of obscure unguents—think cream for damaged … Read more

Number of words: 3,808 When Brandon Sawalich started at Starkey Hearing Technologies in suburban Minneapolis, he was 19 and there were about 70 companies worldwide making hearing aids. That was 1994. His job was to clean the ones mailed in for repair or, occasionally, as returns, because the user was dead and no longer required … Read more

Number of words: 1,490 Most 60-year-old men don’t go food shopping every day, but Tommy Mule does. Mule (pronounced Moo-LAY), a morning radio host in Rochester, N.Y., pops into his local grocery store daily for some Vietnamese spring rolls, a rotisserie chicken, or just a coffee and some chitchat with Jimmy, his pal in the … Read more

Number of words: 711 Kolkata’s media, run by and addressed to, bhadralok consumers, has its pyjama strings in knots. Will a saffron wave sweep Bengal? Or will Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) dominate Lok Sabha seats, like the Left Front did before her? Bengal has 42 Lok Sabha constituencies, the third highest in India after … Read more

Number of words: 4,106 In statistical terms, this is the golden age of American higher education. More than 1 in 3 Americans has at least a bachelor’s degree, the most ever. Almost 70 percent of high school seniors graduating this spring will go to college in the fall, compared with about half during the mid-1970s. … Read more

Number of words: 542 Going to the bathroom is one thing that ties all of humanity together—even when we’re at cruising altitude. But toilets on planes are often cramp and very loud. While space remains an everlasting issue when traveling 30,000 feet in the air, sound is something science is trying to tackle. After two … Read more