The world’s most beautiful house?

For centuries, artists and designers have tried to create aesthetically pleasing architecture. But can a home be art? Jonathan Glancey takes a look.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1KpEnRg

Key Element of Human Language Discovered in Australian Bird

Stringing together meaningless sounds to create meaningful signals was previously thought to be the preserve of humans alone, but a fascinating new study has revealed that Australian babbler birds are also able to communicate in this way...
Read more: http://ift.tt/1Kpo72H

The Shrinking Sea: California's impending environmental disaster

The Salton Sea has been shrinking and due to a deal with San Diego and the drought it is shrinking faster. This presents many problems and could become a serious environmental disaster.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1FPz3jR

High Tea, Afternoon Tea, Elevenses: English Tea Times For Dummies

It's easy to get overwhelmed by the English and their social tea traditions. What time are they each at, anyways? But don't fret. NPR's The Salt is here to offer guidance.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1FPtstP

Unprecedented June Heat in Northwest U.S. Caused by Extreme Jet Stream Pattern

A searing heat wave unprecedented for June scorched the Northwest U.S. and Western Canada on Saturday and Sunday.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1FPtYIc

The Revolution Has Been Digitized: Explore the Oldest Archive of Radical Posters

The oldest public collection of radical history completed a digital archive of over 2,000 posters.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1LGAf16

How 4 Gay Black Women Fought Back Against A Sexual Harasser — And Landed In Jail

They're called the New Jersey 4, a group of young women who were catcalled and allegedly attacked in New York. Why did they — and not their harasser — end up in jail? A new documentary digs in.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1eYU4Dr

Dylann Roof, 4chan, and the New Online Racism

4chan’s trolling culture didn’t just birth Guy Fawkes hacktivism—it also inspired the racist and neo-fascist sites where the Charleston terrorist lurked. To understand Dylann Roof’s thinking, he tells us, we have to go back to 2012. To Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman, the moment that Roof writes in his manifesto that he was reborn as a white nationalist. Roof’s inspirations are clear in a way that his psychology is not.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1GKUQtE

Stalin's Rope Roads

The mining town of Chiatura, Georgia, surrounded by steep cliffs, is criss-crossed by a network of aging Soviet-era aerial tramways that are still in use today. In the early 20th century, after the U.S.S.R. annexed Georgia, Soviet authorities were intent on extracting the vast manganese deposits beneath Chiatura. In the 1950s, planners began work on what locals call the "Kanatnaya Doroga," or "rope road," that still connects almost every corner of the town.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1GXkyhQ

Was human evolution inevitable or a matter of luck?

Was human evolution inevitable, or do we owe our existence to a once-in-a-universe stroke of luck?
Read more: http://ift.tt/1eheFlt

A Scientific Ethical Divide Between China and West

Some experts worry that medical researchers are stepping over established ethical boundaries in Beijing’s effort to lift its scientific standing.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1NsXM3G

Ten books to read in July

From stories of the American West and the Space Age to a Scottish detective hunting a mass murderer, these are the best reads for your shelf, writes Jane Ciabattari.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1HvL7y0

30th June 1934 - Night of the Long Knives

In Germany, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler orders a bloody purge of his own political party, assassinating hundreds of Nazis whom he believed had the potential to become political enemies in the future.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1C5GBUF

US now has more Spanish speakers than Spain – only Mexico has more

The United States is now the world’s second largest Spanish-speaking country after Mexico, according to a new study published by the prestigious Instituto Cervantes. The report says there are 41 million native Spanish speakers in the US plus a further 11.6 million who are bilingual, mainly the children of Spanish-speaking immigrants. This puts the US ahead of Colombia (48 million) and Spain (46 million) and second only to Mexico (121 million).
Read more: http://ift.tt/1GKAHUE

Only 16 of world's highest-paid celebrities are women, Forbes finds

Katy Perry is highest-ranked woman in third place on magazine’s list as men’s greater earning power reflects gender pay gap in wider society
Read more: http://ift.tt/1LG2qgG

Shelf Clouds

Right place right time.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1GMzdKq

William Astore, "Hi, I'm Uncle Sam and I'm a War-oholic"

War on drugs. War on poverty. War in Afghanistan. War in Iraq. War on terror. The biggest mistake in American policy, foreign and domestic, is looking at everything as war. When a war mentality takes over, it chooses the weapons and tactics for you. It limits the terms of debate before you even begin. It answers questions before they’re even asked.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1Hs8NS3

London’s Subterranean Secret: The Forgotten Mail Train

As a former Londoner, born & raised, who thought she knew everything there was to know about the city, finding out that there’s been a secret Royal Mail underground train line beneath our feet for over 85 years was just a little bit shocking.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1BTDdfm

Farming Without Water

As California faces its fourth year of drought, the farmers who supply half of U.S. fruits and vegetables are trying to figure out how to conserve their scarcest resource.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1g5YiJS

London: the city that ate itself

London is a city ruled by money. The things that make it special – the markets, pubs, high streets and communities – are becoming unrecognisable. The city is suffering a form of entropy whereby anything distinctive is converted into property value. Can the capital save itself?
Read more: http://ift.tt/1FN2Cm6

What makes the perfect Wimbledon serve?

Former champions Andy Murray and Pat Cash demonstrate what makes the perfect tennis serve for Wimbledon.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1BSWo8W

This is Rikers

From the people who live and work there.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1IIiiJc

Confederate flag is a symbol of America's culture wars

American Way: Society is changing rapidly - from Rachel Dolezal to gay marriage - and both sides need to take a breath and see things from the other's perspective. Pretend for a minute you're a professional black woman living in Washington, DC. During your lifetime, things have mostly improved. But everywhere, vestiges of the past still haunt you. Living in Washington, DC, you probably have to take Jefferson Davis highway once in a while...
Read more: http://ift.tt/1dtvyc2

Great Wall of China reported disappearing, exposed to weather, tourism and theft

BEIJING, June 29 — Around 30 per cent of China’s Ming-era Great Wall has disappeared over time as adverse natural conditions and reckless human activities — including stealing the bricks to build houses — erode the UNESCO World Heritage site. In places it is so dilapidated that estimates of its total length vary from 9,000 to 21,000 kilometres (5,600 to 13,000 miles), depending on whether missing sections are included. Despite its length it is not, as is sometimes claimed, visible from space.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1LEBgH5

Cellphone Marks 30 Years in Canada

Cellphones debuted in Canada on July 1, 1985. From advances in technology to plummeting prices, the mobile phone landscape has changed drastically in the past 30 years. Here's a look back at the evolution of the cellphone.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1U1U2e0

How the rainbow became the symbol of gay pride

The fascinating story involves Judy Garland, Harvey Milk and a drag queen named "Busty Ross"
Read more: http://ift.tt/1R0mf5L

How Eurocrats, Greeks, Germans, and Eastern Europeans View the Greek Crisis

The Syriza government in Greece just made the move of proposing a referendum on the creditors’ last (unacceptable) offer, so the Greek people can now choose a destiny from a set of unpleasant destinies to which history has brought them.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1HtYwq9

How the Inca Empire Engineered a Road Across Some of the World’s Most Extreme Terrain

For a new exhibition, a Smithsonian curator conducted oral histories with contemporary indigenous cultures to recover lost Inca traditions.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1FKCc48

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Transgender Rights (HBO)

Read more: http://ift.tt/1KkFYYp

Australia needs politically active environmental groups

From the perspective of conservation scientists, the government’s inquiry into the tax-deductible status of environmental groups is a bad idea wrapped in naïveté.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1InPcTP

Are Germany and the US still the best of friends? - BBC News

The relationship between Germany and the US has been through a rocky patch, says Jenny Hill - but it will endure.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1RLCC16

U.S. Manufacturing costs are almost as low as China’s

“Made in the U.S.A” is becoming more affordable. The reason? Fracking. You don’t need to a Nobel Prize in economics to know that the fracking revolution has been good for the U.S. What’s not so well known is just how competitive cheap oil and gas has made American manufacturing. BCG, the Boston consultancy, estimates the average cost to manufacture goods in the U.S. is now only 5% higher than in China and is actually 10% to 20% lower than in major European economies.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1BPXD91

Americans are obsessed with matcha tea — but we're drinking it all wrong

Not only are we masking its flavors and jacking it with sugar, we're also drinking matcha differently than it's traditionally enjoyed in the East.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1IFbITK

Religion and Science: Where Are They Headed?

Doesn't religious belief prevent those of faith from engaging with the insights of science? Actually, not really.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1IFbJqN

Ten days that turned America into a better place

Out of the horror of the Charleston shootings has come extraordinarily honest self-examination
Read more: http://ift.tt/1TZ7orx

The weekend in pictures

A selection of the best pictures from around the world this weekend
Read more: http://ift.tt/1LPrXRB

Native American Superheroes Take Comic Books by Storm

A growing number of indigenous comic book artists are changing the face of this billion-dollar industry
Read more: http://ift.tt/1QXBtsd

Mountainous Landscape Behind Saint-Rémy

June 1889, by Vincent Van Gogh
Read more: http://ift.tt/1fZo16D

Contemporary Art, By Magnus Gjoen

Contemporary art by Magnus Gjoen explores how something potentially extremely destructive can be transformed into beautiful yet fragile objects of art. His fashion background infuses Magnus’ art, re-thinking old concepts and re-interpreting them for the contemporary art. Magnus’ prints alters the relationships between the viewer and the preconceived notions of objects.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1NqUPzQ

Play the Skinny Jeans and Vaccines Quiz (Nautilus Quiz 5)

It’s time again for the weekly Nautilus science news quiz! This week, we test your knowledge of vaccines, fine art, and skinny jeans.…
Read more: http://ift.tt/1BZus3A

"The Machines Mourn the Passing of People"

Poem by Alicia E Stallings (read by Tom O'Bedlam)
Read more: http://ift.tt/1fY2rPP

Are You a Hotel?

Airbnb works at nothing so hard as arguing that it is good for the local economies—bringing new, spendy people to town while it helps regular folks pay their rent—and not a twenty-four-billion-dollar company that is siphoning off an already highly constrained supply of apartments in cities like New York. Except, perhaps, putting forward the idea that it is most definitely not a hotel operator.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1KioY5a

Researchers Create Glowing Nanocellulose Paper

A team of scientists at Sichuan University in China has developed the first light-emitting, transparent and flexible paper. Experts have long predicted the coming age of flexible electronics, and researchers around the world have been working on multiple fronts to reach that goal. But many of the advances rely on petroleum-based plastics and toxic materials. Sichuan University scientists co-led by Dr Yu-zhong Wang and Dr Fei Song wanted to seek a greener way forward.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1TWN8GU

The secret codes of British banknotes

How often have you looked at the cash in your wallet? Look closer: it’s riddled with hidden patterns designed to deter counterfeiters. Chris Baraniuk investigates.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1ICVWJ5

The Curse of the Pixar Universe

For all the cleverness of “Inside Out,” I was jolted from the start by its deformation of children and of mental life. By Richard Brody.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1SUpTfe

North Korean Defectors Recount Ordeals

A handful of North Korean defectors are publishing their memoirs this summer. Among the harrowing accounts is “The Girl With Seven Names,” by Hyeonseo Lee, who walked out of the country when she was 17.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1ec4Yom

It’s Time to Legalize Polygamy

Why group marriage is the next horizon of social liberalism.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1Kmq29B

27th June 1950 - Truman orders U.S. forces to Korea

President Harry S. Truman announces that he is ordering U.S. air and naval forces to South Korea to aid the democratic nation in repulsing an invasion by communist North Korea.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1dpDP0t

Emerson on What Beauty Really Means, How to Cultivate Its True Hallmarks, and Why It Bewitches the Human Imagination

“The secret of ugliness consists not in irregularity, but in being uninteresting.”
Read more: http://ift.tt/1ICmzxN

Scientists in South Asia Struggle to Understand Heatwave

Scientists in India and Pakistan say higher temperatures were just one factor in the recent heatwaves and other causes such as air pressure, humidity and sea breezes played a role.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1LvdiNl