Cultura e ideias

Explaining funny

This is one of the most famous comedy bits of all time: But why is it funny? The disconnect between experiencing it and explaining it represents one of the challenges of teaching. It’s also at the heart of leadership, marketing and culture. Design, good taste, genre, communication style–these are all human endeavors that inform our […]

Seth's Blog · EN

Cooperation (the fall book list)

Last week’s book list was a success, and I realized that it would work even better with others. Bookstores work precisely because they stack the books right next to each other. Even though each of these authors has a book out this fall, they’re not my competition. Too often, we avoid cooperation because we’re embracing […]

Seth's Blog · EN

The Hallmark dilemma

The slogan is “when you care enough to send the very best.” But more accurately, it’s “when you don’t care enough to be on the hook.” For a low-stakes social interaction, the Hallmark card is a convenient and safe solution. Low-risk, it gets the job done. People don’t blame you for letting someone from Kansas […]

Seth's Blog · EN

“Not yet”

The reason we train is to get better. Every successful product goes from version 1.0 to 2.0, eventually. Very few people still drive a Model T. It’s not perfect, not yet. But we ship the work because it’s on the way to the next step. Perfect isn’t possible. Better always is.

Seth's Blog · EN

Trees can’t run

That changes everything. This is the spot, your spot, a spot worth protecting. Trees understand the power of the neighborhood and the value of good neighbors. Trees can’t be anonymous, and they succeed by standing tall and sticking it out. Trees do better in a forest, surrounded by other trees. And trees think in long […]

Seth's Blog · EN

The lingering legacies of 'The Sun Also Rises' 100 years on

Ernest Hemingway's debut novel, about lost and wayward young people after World War I, turned 100 this week. We look at its legacy and how the book has aged.

NPR Books · EN

In this new kids' book, it's 'Snow Geese Season' for a little boy and his Pop

Every fall, snow geese migrating south stop in Vermont and cover the ground in a snowy white blanket. Now, a new picture book celebrates that real-life awe-inspiring event.

NPR Books · EN

What makes a good spine-tingler? Stephen Graham Jones says it's all in the ending

Horror writer Stephen Graham Jones says horror's current moment is powered by more than just fear.

NPR Books · EN

'New Yorker' cartoonists confess to the horrors lurking in their kitchens

Roz Chast and Jason Adam Katzenstein discuss roaches, molding food and dysfunctional appliances. Their new graphic memoir, The Two Saddest Kitchens , reveals it all.

NPR Books · EN

These 'Seven Stories About Tammy' add up to one brilliant piece of writing

Elizabeth McCracken's connected short stories chronicle a family's encounters with their eldest son's girlfriend and eventual wife. This slim collection is so engaging, you may want to read it twice.

NPR Books · EN

Romantasy fans turn out for 'Midnight Maas' release event

The highly anticipated, latest installment of Sarah J. Maas' romantasy series has hit the shelves. Hardcore fans were lined up (in their faerie ears) at the stroke of midnight.

NPR Books · EN

New book revisits the 2023 killing of an unhoused man in crisis on the NYC subway

Jordan Neely was frightening fellow passengers. A former Marine named Daniel Penny put Neely into a chokehold, killing him. Journalist Anand Giridharadas investigates the incident in Man in the Mirror.

NPR Books · EN

Kazuo Ishiguro on 'Klara and the Sun' and writing novels about the future

The Nobel Prize-winning novelist says he honed his skills while working as a songwriter. Now, Ishiguro's 2021 novel Klara and the Sun has been adapted to film. Originally broadcast March 17, 2021.

NPR Books · EN

Should 'bird brain' be a compliment? Here's how crows think fast

New research in the journal Science finds that crows turn visual information into decisions twice as fast as humans and primates. They also process information is quite similarly to humans.

NPR Science · EN

The latest in space science: We look back at the Big Bang

In this edition of Spacing Out, the team from Short Wave shares the latest developments in space science, including the theory on why the universe is made of matter

NPR Science · EN

Time expert Philippe Richard on why scientists are changing how we keep time

Scientists have voted to change how the world keeps time, but most people won't even notice. NPR's Scott Simon talks to Philippe Richard, director of Switzerland's Federal Institute of Metrology.

NPR Science · EN

How AI is transforming hurricane forecasts

Hurricane forecasters are increasingly using artificial intelligence to make predictions.

NPR Science · EN

When an invasive fish is also tasty, Maryland schoolkids can help 'eat the problem'

The Chesapeake Bay, home to blue crabs and striped bass, has a new apex predator: the blue catfish. It's invasive and voracious. It's also delicious, which officials hope might help save the bay.

NPR Science · EN

Even birds get jet lagged, study shows

A species of seabirds appears to become disoriented on flights back to its nest due to shifting time zones.

NPR Science · EN

This week in science: mysterious X-rays, movement and learning, and memory formation

Emily Kwong and Ari Daniel of NPR's Short Wave talk about mysterious X-ray objects, the link between movement and learning and how a small part of the brain triggers memory formation.

NPR Science · EN

Oyster stocks have plunged in the Chesapeake. This resident wants to bring them back

Oyster reefs once abounded in the Chesapeake, but overharvesting slashed their populations, leading to poorer water quality and less habitat for other species. Now, researchers and local residents are finding creative ways to bring their numbers back up.

NPR Science · EN

The secrets of Hohle Fels cave

Why aren’t we all Neanderthals? These ancient bird figurines suggest that art was essential to our evolutionary success - by Aeon Video Watch on Aeon

Aeon Video · EN

A vocabulary for the future: nature

For the philosopher Bruno Latour, seeing anything ‘natural’ as good and the ‘artificial’ as bad is perversely human-centric - by Aeon Video Watch on Aeon

Aeon Video · EN

When it started to burn

Horrific violence, enduring terror and ceaseless solidarity: four years of war through the eyes of Ukrainian civilians - by Aeon Video Watch on Aeon

Aeon Video · EN