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EartherClimate ChangeCities Need to Look Beyond Their Borders When Fighting Climate Change
When you’re in a major city, it can be easy to forget about the outside world. But city life is not a hermetic experience—in fact, the environmental footprints of cities can stretch around the world. A new study shows that cities are overlooking a major source of emissions as they craft policies to transition toward … Continued
By Ari Phillips -
EartherUrbanization Is Now One of the Most Dominant Forces of Evolution
When humans settled into larger villages and towns some 12,000 years ago along with the advance of agriculture, wildlife took advantage. Those species “preadapted” to survive in early cities, including mice and rats, grabbed onto the coattails of modern civilization and haven’t looked back since. Now they pretty much depend on the underbelly of human … Continued
By Ari Phillips -
Tech NewsArtificial IntelligenceSaudi Arabia’s Robot Love Is Getting Weird
In the latest example of “Philip K Dick-inspired nightmare becomes real life,” Saudi Arabia just became the first nation to grant citizenship to a robot. The robot’s name is Sophia. It is artificially intelligent, friends with CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin, and, arguably, a glimpse into the dark future that will kill us all. You see, … Continued
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Tech NewsThe Cursed History of NYC MetroCards
If you’ve ridden the New York City subway, you know the feeling. You buy a flimsy plastic card that lets you ride the train, and when you try to swipe it at the turnstile, it doesn’t work. You swipe again. The machine asks you to swipe again. You swipe again. The machine asks you to … Continued
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Tech News
A Colossal ‘Fatberg’ Clogging London’s Sewer Is Ten Times Bigger Than the Last One
A so-called “fatberg”—a tightly congealed mass of fat, wet wipes, diapers, and condoms—is blocking a section of London’s Victorian-era sewage network. It could take weeks for utility crews to remove the horrific mass, which, if not removed, could cause raw sewage to spill onto London’s streets. Such are the perils of maintaining an aging sewage … Continued
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Tech News
The Competition to Host Amazon’s Second Headquarters Is On
Jeff Bezos and friends are on a bit of a spending spree. Amazon just announced that it’s looking to drop a cool $5 billion on a “second headquarters” that will employ as many as 50,000 workers. In characteristically splashy fashion, the company also announced that cities across North America will get to bid on the … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidThe Never-Ending Descent Into This Infinite Fractal City Will Melt Your Brain
In Julius Horsthuis’ short film Recurrence, he takes the audience on a slow descent into a sprawling metropolis he’s created. But as you get closer and closer to the city, and try to make out details like houses and skyscrapers, you start to realize that those tiny details only reveal more of the same, and that … Continued
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Tech NewsDubai’s Unfortunately Named Torch Tower Won’t Stop Catching on Fire
Some Dubai residents woke up to a familiar sight early Friday morning: flames engulfing an enormous skyscraper. In fact, the fire that spanned 50 of the 86 stories of the massive Torch Tower was all too familiar. The same skyscraper burned in 2015, and the causes appear to be related. Luckily, there were no reported … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidThis 10-Hour Video of Planet Earth Cityscapes Is Strangely Hypnotic
In what is now the sixth installment of a stunning and weirdly addictive series, the BBC has released 10 full hours of video shot during the filming of the Planet Earth II “Cities” episode. The beauty of this video, aside from the sheer volume of it all, is that it’s delivered without any commentary and … Continued
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Tech News
I Want This 1923 Prediction For the American City of the Future To Be Real
When the world is descending into chaos, it can be hard to believe that optimistic visions of the future are within our reach. But personally, I think I’ve hit that point where escapist fantasy worlds of tomorrow are the only thing that can ease the stresses of our modern world. This 1923 illustration, for instance, … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
Hong Kong Looks Beautifully Uncanny When Seen From the Sky
Few cities represent the remarkable 20th century trend of skyscraper-filled, obscenely dense cities better than Hong Kong. At its height, The Kowloon Walled City, which was demolished in 1993, was perhaps the most dystopian portrait of urban living. And according to photographer Andy Yeung, 21st-century Hong Kong isn’t all that different. Yeung recently published his … Continued
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Tech NewsElon Musk’s Latest Tunnel Test Feels Like Going Into Hyperspace
The more I learn about Elon Musk’s Boring Project—a batshit idea to build a tunnel that sends cars at breakneck speeds under Los Angeles—the more I want to take a ride. The twisted genius just posted video of a test sled zooming through a test tunnel. Holy shit, it’s like going into hyperspeed, and I … Continued
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Tech NewsElon Musk Wants to Turn the LA Underground Into a Giant Slot Car Race
Who’s the craziest ultra-rich, would-be supervillain in the whole wide world? It’s Elon. Elon Musk. During a Friday morning TED talk, the professional technology brainstormer offered an animated glimpse at what his new tunneling project, The Boring Company, could one day create. It looks like a post-apocalyptic slot car race that takes place underneath the … Continued
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Tech News
Why You Should Always Walk on Escalators
On Tuesday, The New York Times decided to reignite the age old debate of walking versus standing on escalators. And do you know what the paper concluded? “You shouldn’t walk on escalators.” This is a patently incorrect and essentially un-American conclusion for at least four reasons. Before we delve into our very detailed and organized … Continued
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ScienceHealth
Interactive Map Shows How Healthy (or Unhealthy) Your Neighborhood Is
In my particular Oakland neighborhood, not that many people smoke or binge drink (about 13%) and a lot of us exercise (about 80%). Not bad. We’re even doing a tad better than the city of Oakland overall, where 14% of people binge drink, nearly 16% smoke and closer to 75% of people regularly engage in … Continued
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Tech News
Rio’s Olympic Venues Look Like Hell Just Six Months After the Games
The Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics were never going to go well. Thanks to decades of inequality and urban decay, the city always seemed ill-prepared to host athletes and fans from around the world. So it should come as no surprise that just six months after the games, the very expensive and sparkly venues built … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidWhy Cities Are Where They Are in the World
Have you ever wondered why the world’s largest cities sprout up where they sprout up? It has a lot to do with water, natural resources, history, and being in the northern hemisphere. Wendover Productions took a really hard look at why cities are whey they are in the video below and it’s completely fascinating. Some … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech News
Megacities Will Gobble Up the Best Farmland, Leaving Humans Hungry
Cities will grow alongside growing populations, turning the land in their wake into housing and infrastructure. And when that happens, we can goodbye to the food, a new study warns. Urban populations are expected to nearly double from 2000 to 2030, and the total amount of urban land will triple to support the influx of … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidTeleport All Over Tokyo on This Super Fun Bike Ride
There’s no crazier playground in the world than Tokyo, and there’s no better form of transportation than teleportation. So watching BMX rider Nigel Sylvester zap himself around all the wild, weird, and fun of Tokyo through clever video editing is a helluva trip. You’ll see him wiggle through Shibuya Crossing, play bonkers arcade games, bring … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech NewsSploidWhy We Should Build Our Cities Upward, Not Outward
Why should we build taller cities? Because cities with taller buildings are cool as hell. But seriously, building cities upward rather than outward can help solve a lot of problems that come with living in our terrible urban sprawls. People would spend less time stuck in traffic during their commutes. Water could be saved with … Continued
By Casey Chan