Ria Misra

What’s Actually In Your Pumpkin Spice Latte?

Is it the tang of the passing of the seasons — and, hence, our own impending demise — that gives pumpkin spice lattes their distinct flavor? The tears of hipster baristas? Actual pumpkin and spices? (AHA HA HA HA no.) What gives a pumpkin spice latte its distinct notes of flavor is actually a very…

Sugary drinks are now the number one source of junk-food calories for kids, says a new report from Yale’s Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity on the amount and kinds of sugary drinks being knocked back today. While soda consumption has fallen a bit, energy drinks just keep on picking up.

​What Old Tech Inspires The Most Undeserved Amount Of Nostalgia Ever?

Lots of by-gone technologies pull their own little cults of fierce nostalgia around them (yeah, we see you over there, record player people and telegram fans.) But which old technology deserves its current following the least? Whether it’s phone booths (inconvenient and frequently broken), typewriters (seriously, just how often does that ribbon need to be…

This Is How Artists Make Their Livings In The Internet Age

Cory Doctorow joined us today to answer questions about how creative work and copyright work in the digital age. Among them was a particular interestingly question in an increasingly gig-dependent economy: Can artists still make a living from their art? And, if so, how? Top image: Cory Doctorow Portrait by Jonathan Worth It’s always been…

Cory Doctorow Is Here To Take Questions About Copyright And Creativity

What does creative success look like online today? Cory Doctorow is here to answer your questions about the state of copyright, the tangled possibilities of creative work on the internet, and just what the future might hold for them both. Doctorow’s new book Information Doesn’t Want To Be Free: Laws For The Internet Age takes…

What Are You Reading?

What’s on your reading list these days, and what did you just cross off it? Whether you’re currently working your way through some brand new fiction, a long-awaited classic, or even a stack of assigned textbooks, we want to hear about it. Tell us in the comments about the books you’re currently reading or just…

The Inherent Problem With Found Footage Movies

Is the era of shaky cameras, weirdly-framed close ups, and Real World-style chats with the screen really finally coming to an end? Or are found footage movies here to stay? Either way, the genre has a problem. In response to the question raised in this movie review, of whether the latest V/H/S movie was finally…

This Could Finally Explain How Mars Got Its Liquid Water

Evidence suggests that Mars had water flowing on its surface at various points in its ancient history. But the evidence also points to temperatures being far too cold at those time for water to be liquid. So, how can both facts be true? At last, this paradox may be on the verge of resolution. https://gizmodo.com/are-these-pictures-of-water-flowing-on-mars-right-now-1520115138…

Tell Us About The Worst Time You Broke Your Phone

There’s no piece of tech that goes more places with us or serves more purposes for us now than our phones. But sometimes having all that powerful technology shrunk down into the palm of your hand means just one thing: It’s all so, so much easier to break. Tell us now in the comments about…

Why Doctor Who Is Less Graphic Today Than It Was In The ’70s

A flip through the last 50 years of Doctor Who’s on-and-off again television reign reveals that the special effects are getting better. But are they also getting less frightening? And, if so, why? After looking through some of the unused concept art for the next iteration of the Doctor’s longstanding enemies, the Cybermen, a discussion…

How Does This Mind-Bending Illusion Work?

No, there are no magnets in there. The ball is rolling just the way you see it. This illusion is the work of mathematics professor, Kokichi Sugihara, from Meiji University and, if you’re wondering how he did it, the video below where he swaps the perspective of the illusion briefly to show you the other…

Which Science Gets Mangled The Worst Onscreen?

Sometimes the real-life and on-screen versions of a scientific field can be so far apart that the only thing they share is a name. (Please note, Hollywood: The job of an archeologist is to preserve ruins, not destroy them.) Today, we want to know which science continually gets the worst hatchet job on screen. Tell…

Just what does it look like when every active satellite orbiting around the Earth is set into motion? Something like this lovely interactive graphic from Quartz, which takes all 1,200 satellites moving around Earth and shows you exactly where in orbit they are — plus what they’re doing up there as well as who sent…

What Universal’s New Monster Movie Universe Could Learn From Sitcoms

On the surface, dark feature-length tales of classic monsters and televised, laugh-tracked 30 minute (or 20 if we’re counting commercials) sitcoms may seem pretty far apart, but there might be some lessons for the movies to draw. In response to the news that Universal might be hiring a stable of writers for its collective new…

Which State Has The Worst Internet Access In The Nation?

Sorry, Mississippi. The news isn’t good. The Census has released its latest figures on who has and who doesn’t have high-speed internet access. And while the news is initially pretty good, with just under 80% of Americans having high-speed internet, when you start to break down the data geographically, the news becomes a little more…

Put On Your Friday Best, GIFs! It’s Time To Party

Suit up, GIFs! It’s party time. What did this last week bring you? Do you have news, travel plans, or life updates that you’re dying to reveal? Maybe you’ve got movie reviews, weekend reading and Netflix binge recommendations, or just some really good snack recipes to throw to the room? Now’s the time to share…

These Six-Word Stories Are Dispatches From A Strange Alternate Reality

Drawn from the stories you submitted to us today, these tales rewrite The Sound of Music as a horror flick, give us some etiquette tips for how to behave in front of a black hole (hint! VERY WELL), and, most alarmingly, show a timeline where our attempts to land a comet turned out very differently…

How To Turn Coke Into Water

Water is necessary to make Coke, but what happens when the process is reversed to turn Coke into water? This art installation shows you how it’s done. Artist Helmut Smits worked with Martien Würdemann of the University of Amsterdam’s Synthetic Organic Chemistry Groupto design the project which takes a bottle of coke and extracts drinking…

Write Some Six-Word Science Fiction Stories For Us!

What kind of story can you tell in just six little words? Write an extremely concise science fiction epic for us now! Last time, your six-word science fiction stories ranged all over the universe, from an astronaut who spoke too soon (“First on Mars!” *Tap on shoulder — buckgoose) to a very strange trial taking…

Does The Universe Need Black Holes?

Black holes are some of the most mysterious objects in our universe — but are they also among the most necessary? Image: Artist’s concept of a growing black hole at the center of a faraway galaxy. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) Astrophysicist James Geach stopped by today to answer our questions about the formation and evolution of galaxies, including…