Think of it as enabling philanthropy: take a minimum of money and aim it at the precise point where it can do the maximum ...

Many skyscrapers contain such devices, called tuned mass dampers, for the same purpose, but the Taipei 101 pendulum is ...

The best of these are still valid and useful, so we’re trying out something new — Retro Recomendo. Once every 6 weeks, we’ll send out a throwback issue of evergreen recommendations focused on one ...

Gar’s Tips & Tools is free. But if you really like what I’m throwing down and want to support it, please consider a paid subscription. Same great taste, more cheddar to help keep me in tattoo wash ...

Back in March I ordered this small mic that just plugs into my laptop USB port and can then be moved around to face the front. At under $20 it’s not studio quality, but when paired with wireless ...

I am not the first, nor the only one, to believe a superorganism is emerging from the cloak of wires, radio waves, and electronic nodes wrapping the surface of our planet. No one can dispute the scale ...

Trevor Paglen is a thorn in Uncle Sam’s side. Known for snapping telephoto candids of CIA planes and Area 51, the artist also gathers “patch intel,” which he’s collected in this provocative book (main ...

I’ve been seriously traveling for more than 50 years, and I’ve learned a lot. I’ve traveled solo, and I’ve led a tour group of 40 friends. I’ve slept in dormitories and I’ve stayed in presidential ...

Ted Kaczynski, the convicted bomber who blew up dozens of technophilic professionals, was right about one thing: technology has its own agenda. The technium is not, as most people think, a series of ...

A work crane at the Clock site in western Texas. There is a Clock ringing deep inside a mountain. It is a huge Clock, hundreds of feet tall, designed to tick for 10,000 years. Every once in a while ...

Your dog wants to go outside. Your cat wants to be scratched. Birds want mates. Worms want moisture. Bacteria want food. The wants of a microscopic single-celled organism are less than the wants of ...

I am not at all sure why Ted Kaczynski made this gun, unless it was to avoid the detection of having to buy one. It’s remarkable in its craftsmanship. Don’t know if it worked, but given how meticulous ...