Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

An Entertaining and Informative Explanation of Vaccines

The current fear and paranoia surrounding vaccines is not a new phenomenon.

Craig Carilli
By Craig CarilliMar 02, 2015
Craig Carilli
See Full Bio

The current fear and paranoia surrounding vaccines is not a new phenomenon. For as long as vaccines have been around, people have been irrationally afraid of them. In this recent video from It’s Okay To Be Smart, vaccines, and the fears surrounding them, are broken down in a very fun and informative way.

Share this on Facebook?

The Latest

john lennon, ufo, new york city, the beatles, rock history
Culture

John Lennon had a UFO sighting so vivid, he referenced the phenomenon in a song

social media, phone addiction, focus, concentration, psychology
Health

Ivy League psychologist says everyone under 25 must master this skill to be employable

mind traps, logical fallacies, anxiety, mental health, critical thinking
Ideas

Nobel Prize winner reveals 21 'mind trap' thinking errors that could be holding you back

robot vacuum, invention, multi-functional gadgets, upgrades, roomba
Science & Tech

Scientists think your lazy robot vacuum could provide home security, pet care, and more

More For You

women, car, designers, volvo, car design, design team

The project leaders for Volvo's "Your Concept Car."

via Volvo

Volvo had 9 women design a car and the common-sense features were like nothing we've seen before

“We’ve had in the excess of 100 interviews, and we still haven’t found that one that doesn’t want it,” said Volvo technical manager Lena Ekelund in 2004. That March, the Swedish car manufacturer debuted the Volvo YCC, “Your Concept Car,” at the Geneva International Motor Show—then one of the most esteemed auto shows in the world. Even though cars had existed for nearly a century, the YCC was, as Volvo shared, “the first car designed and developed almost exclusively by women.”

Two years earlier in 2002, a group of female Volvo designers, engineers, and marketing professionals went to a seminar at the company to learn how they could improve their reach to female consumers. What they learned, Volvo shared, was that “women purchase about 65 percent of cars and influence about 80 percent of all car sales; yet, for a century, men have made most of the decisions in the design, development and production of a car.” Something needed to change. After all, if women were making the decisions, if they were buying their own cars, shouldn’t cars also reflect their needs? They petitioned Volvo to let them create a concept car, a prototype, informed by women’s driving decisions and desires. Not only did they make it, as Volvo shared, they did so “faster and at less cost than most concept cars.”

Keep ReadingShow less
nirvana, top of the pops, kurt cobain, live music, smells like teen spirit

Nirvana's subversive 'Top of the Pops' performance belongs in a TV-music time capsule.

Photo credit: YouTube screenshots from 'Top of the Pops' performance

Nirvana's subversive performance on a teen pop show is one of the funniest TV-music moments ever

They were never the most obvious match: Top of the Pops, a buttoned-up institution of British television; and Nirvana, the edgy and irreverent poster boys of an emerging U.S. phenomenon labeled "grunge." But in November 1991, that culture clash resulted in one of the funniest moments in TV-music history.

In a way, it was destiny. Top of the Pops, aired weekly between 1964 and 2006, showcased the most popular songs of the era. Nirvana, meanwhile, were becoming one of music’s hottest commodities, riding the commercial momentum of their soon-to-be-blockbuster second LP, Nevermind. The album’s lead single, "Smells Like Teen Spirit," became an MTV staple and, eventually, one of the most iconic songs ever—a perfect selection for a Top of the Pops "performance." But here’s the problem: Artists on the show typically lip-synced to a backing track, which didn’t exactly fit the Nirvana aesthetic. Kurt Cobain ultimately wound up singing live—but not, let's say, in his typical style.

Keep ReadingShow less
josephine baker, superfine, black dandy, star, inspiration, history, style, black style, fashion
Josephine Baker, above, was a source of inspiration for many stars at the 2025 Met Gala.
via Wikimedia Commons

'Superfine: Tailoring Black Style' Met Gala outfits were fabulous, but their stories were even better

Every year on the first Monday in May, the Met Gala captures both imaginations and the news cycle. Celebrities of all stripes take to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for their annual fundraising fête benefitting The Costume Institute while showcasing opulent ensembles that embody each year’s theme.

This year’s theme, “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” was based on a book of the same name by scholar Monica L. Miller, which focused on “a cultural and historical examination of Black style over three hundred years through the concept of dandyism,” the Met shared. “Superfine” became “the first exhibition to focus on designers of color and only the second show dedicated to menswear,” The Hollywood Reporterwrote. And while the gorgeous styles on view as guests arrived were feats of fashion innovation, the best part was learning the stories behind them and the way they honored the legacy of Black style and design.

Keep ReadingShow less
eye, eyeball, ocularist, optometry, prosthetics, unique, bodily autonomy

With eyecatching prosthetics, Christina King crafts a look less ordinary.

Photo by Sara on Unsplash

From glitter to leopard print,  Portland ocularist Christina King gives prosthetic eyes a new life

An ocularist is “a medical specialist trained in designing, fitting and forming fabricated eyes,” according to Johns Hopkins University, and its practitioners exist in medicine “where art and ophthalmology meet.” But Portland-based ocularist Christina King—nicknamed “Christina Oculara” by a patient, after Christina Aguilera—stands out. At her practice, the Center for Ocular Prosthetics, she makes standard eyes, but she also makes what she calls “fun eyes,” that incorporate designs, glitter, patterns, drawings, and so much more.

King had an art background, having studied Industrial Design and Technology at the Art Institute of Philadelphia. In fact, it was in college that she first learned what an ocularist was. As children’s eyesight advocacy organization Know the Glowshares, King was in an art history class at the Art Institute when her classmate showed her her own prosthesis, and sent her to an ocularist to learn more. King was so excited about the work that she made it her career. After becoming board certified, she worked in hospitals and with leading ocularists, eventually arriving in Portland and training under its previous owner, Fred Harwin. King now owns the practice.

Keep ReadingShow less
carrie fisher, princess leia, star wars, leia organa, billie lourd

Carrie Fisher became an enduring icon as Princess Leia in Star Wars, which now extends to Billie Lourd's children.

www.flickr.com

Carrie Fisher’s daughter Billie Lourd shows her children entering the Star Wars universe

“I liked being Princess Leia. Or Princess Leia’s being me. Over time I thought that we’d melded into one. I don’t think you could think of Leia without my lurking in that thought somewhere,” Carrie Fisher wrote in her 2016 memoir The Princess Diarist. The legendary actress and writer made her mark on cinema history in the original Star Wars series as Princess Leia, of course, and her daughter, actress Billie Lourd, has also made the film series a part of her family’s life.

On May 4th, which over the last few years has become meme-ified as Star Wars Day–you know, “May the 4th be with you”--Lourd celebrated in her own way by sharing a photo of her children watching Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. In a photo she posted on Instagram, her children sit close to the television, viewing the film intently as Carrie Fisher’s Princess Leia appears onscreen. Carrie Fisher passed away in 2016 before she was able to meet her grandchildren, so the moment is particularly special. Condolences arrived from the likes of Nancy Sinatra, Rosanna Arquette, Rachel Zegler, and Kate and Laura Mulleavy, as Entertainment Weeklyshared, not to mention over 1800 other comments and likes from nearly 144K people.

Keep ReadingShow less
david gilmour, pink floyd, guitar solo, concert, comfortably numb

David Gilmour avoided a guitar-strap disaster with masterful calm.

Photo credit: screenshot from David Gilmour YouTube video

David Gilmour's guitar strap broke during 'Comfortably Numb.' He handled it masterfully.

One of rock’s definitive guitar solos is found on Pink Floyd’s symphonic 1980 masterpiece "Comfortably Numb," played with lyrical grace and crystalline beauty by David Gilmour. He’s translated that passage to the concert stage hundreds of times, both with and without the Floyd (as of this writing, it’s the most-played song on his solo tours), so it’s hard to imagine anything rattling him as he zooms through those bent-note flourishes and sublimely sustained notes. And he proved his elite unflappability during a fall 2024 show, not letting a busted guitar-strap derail this iconic guitar showcase.

The gig in question took place Sept. 28 at the Circo Massimo in Rome, Italy, where Gilmour balanced solo material with a number of Pink Floyd staples. He pulled out "Comfortably Numb," per Setlist.fm, as the encore, and fans documented the song on YouTube. In the footage, the strap snap occurs just ahead of the chorus ("When I was a child…"), with Gilmour nimbly navigating around what, under the circumstances, could have been a stress-nightmare moment.

Keep ReadingShow less
seagull, screeching, competition, europe, birds

At the annual European Gull Scream Championship, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

www.rawpixel.com

At Belgium's annual seagull screeching competition, the birds are the squawk of the town

Beachgoers know the seagull as either feathered friend or foe, swooping in for a French fry or potato chip, an old piece of bread. But they’re actually quite smart, and they’re just trying to live. In an effort to teach people more about the beach-loving birds and maybe even inspire greater affection, Claude Willaert, who works in Belgian coastal education and comedy, created the European Gull Screeching Championship in 2020. Held in De Panne, a Belgian beach town, the competition started as a local event, but has since expanded to include 70 people from 14 different countries. It recently celebrated its fifth anniversary.

Seagulls can be a polarizing group, but scientists say they shouldn’t bear so much of our ire. "They're very charismatic creatures and definitely get a bad rap for sometimes aggressive behaviour in the breeding season," scientist Emma Caulfield told the BBC in 2024. "But they are part of our natural world and they're just taking advantage of the hand that's been dealt them." The hand in question is having to fend for themselves when their environments keep shrinking as humans occupy more and more space in their natural habitats. What we see as sneaky snack stealing is actually a mode of survival. As Gull Screeching Championship juror and Flanders Marine Institute representative Jen Seys told the CBC, “their sounds, their calls and their acrobatic behaviour, it's just part of the sea coast. So you need to balance that. We need some more sympathy for the seagulls." So for Willaert, the competition became a way to teach people to embrace the seagull in a new way, to “make sea gulls sexy again,” as he told the Times.

Keep ReadingShow less
blackout, spain, april, light, europe

The blackout in Madrid, April 2025.

en.m.wikipedia.org

Social media flooded with photos of people thriving during massive power blackout in Spain

“I Survived the Great Spanish Blackout of 2025: AMA.”

What a text to wake up to on a Monday morning at 7:30, East Coast time, from my friend Shannon to our group chat. Shannon had been dog sitting in Andalusia with her boyfriend and his mother. By then it would have been 1:30 p.m. where she was in Spain. As the blackout happened, Shannon and her party were in an underground hammam in Granada, a Turkish bath about two hours from the house. “All the emergency lights came on and the spa music stopped. We still got our massages,” she wrote. “We thought it was just the spa that lost power because of course we didn’t have phones.” Once they realized it wasn’t only the spa, she was quite scared, she said, but the feeling turned to disorientation as she understood what was happening.

Keep ReadingShow less
© Copyright 2025