Culture

A black and white image split into two sections: a half globe on the left and a crowd of people on the right, with the text "More Humans Are Better" in the center and the number 3 in the top right corner.

The overlooked virtues of a crowded world

In a world of rising cynicism, a celebration of our capacity to create, adapt, and thrive.

Jason Crawford

A graphic titled "Humanity vs. Nature" showing a human evolutionary timeline, biocentrism, ecocentrism, and ethos depictions of nature, including a tree, a bird, and marine life.

Why harmony with nature is a myth

Slowing growth and limiting development isn’t living in harmony with nature—it is surrendering in a battle.

Jason Crawford

Entertainment

How the internet changed news, according to The Onion

Freethink spoke to Onion staffers about parodying news from the print era into the digital age.

Tim Brinkhof and Stephen Johnson

Accessibility

Amputee veterans need to game, so this engineer builds new controllers from scratch

Inspired by his visits to Walter Reed Medical Center, engineer Ken Jones makes adaptive controllers to keep veterans gaming.

B. David Zarley

Psychology

Is free will an illusion?

5:35

In partnership with John Templeton Foundation

Philosophers have been making the claim that free will is an illusion for hundreds of years. What does modern neuroscience have to say about it?

Doug Dais

Activism

Museums are racing to save Hong Kong's history before it gets censored

A sweeping security law has Hong Kongers racing to digitize archives and artifacts, from Tiananmen Square to Telegram channels.

B. David Zarley

History

The race to find slave ships, before they're lost forever

Diving with a Purpose is training the next wave of marine archeologists, working with youth to document potential slave ship wrecks before they’re lost.

B. David Zarley

Entertainment

Deepfakes shine in South Park creators’ new show

The creators of South Park have released a web show, Sassy Justice, that makes use of incredibly realistic deepfakes.

Kristin Houser

Democracy

Bird and Lyft are offering free rides to the polls in 2020

The micromobility industry launched a national campaign to offer free rides to the polls on Election Day.

Teresa Carey

Languages

Bringing lost languages back to life with AI

An algorithm that can identify the closest living relatives of lost languages could help linguists unlock the meaning of ancient texts.

Kristin Houser

Democracy

Barbershops unite to empower voters

One campaign is hoping to increase voter turnout by empowering barbershops as community voter engagement hubs.

Teresa Carey

Fixing Justice

Despite the pandemic, voting rights groups help register voters in jail

Voting rights groups help inmates register and vote, despite hurdles presented by the pandemic.

Teresa Carey

Coronavirus

Ghost kitchens are saving restaurants during the pandemic

Ghost kitchens are thriving during the pandemic, as more restaurants rely on online delivery orders for their income.

Kristin Houser

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