This story originally appeared on Slate and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration.Travel is terrible for the environment, particularly if it is by plane. It’s such “a major contributor to ecocide” that it had one travel writer vowing in The Atlantic to “cherish my own home turf more.” As concern about climate change reaches…

This summer, Dishcraft released a new dishwashing robot. It’s only the latest invention that we’ll use in a way that threatens what I’m calling “on-ramp” jobs.I loved being a dishwasher. Every summer for a few years in high school, I’d get up at 7 and walk half a mile from my house to a small…

In chapter 27 of Movies (and Other Things), Shea Serrano's film genius becomes crystal clear. Though titled "Which race was white-saviored the best by Kevin Costner?" Serrano quickly dispatches with that question (Mexicans, McFarland USA) and uses the rest of the space to share a series of movie lists. He ranks, swiftly and confidently, the…

In June, Facebook revealed plans for Libra, a cryptocurrency it hopes will shake up the global payments industry. Facebook says it won’t control Libra, and that key decisions will be in the hands of the Libra Association, a group registered in Switzerland with as many as 100 members, each with equal voting power.“No single organization…

Chris Moody knows a thing or two about the universe. As an astrophysicist, he built galaxy simulations, using supercomputers to model the way the universe expands and how galaxies crash into one another. One night, not long after he’d finished his PhD at UC Santa Cruz, he met up with a few other astrophysicists for…

Portable Bluetooth speakers still rock, but they definitely aren't in vogue like they were a few years ago. But while it's fun to ask a smart speaker like an Amazon Echo or Google Home to play your favorite track, offbeat band names and track titles can still trip them up. Those smart speakers also rely…

History may be cyclical, but for centuries it's been an undisputed truth that with time things get faster. Humans have gone from their feet to bicycles, from the steam engine to the jet plane, always looking to boost their miles per hour. But especially since the turn of the millennium, this quest for quickness has…

Shuttle startup Via and the city of Cupertino are launching an on-demand public transportation network, the latest example of municipalities trying out alternatives to traditional buses. The aim is for…

By now, you’ve probably heard about the tweet heard ‘round the world, or at least, the part of the world where Mandarin is spoken. The GM of the Houston Rockets…

Instagram is removing its Following tab, a feature that became better known as a stalking tool than one to aid with new account discovery, as the company had intended. Today,…