Ahead of her Kepler’s talk on Oct. 19, astronaut, engineer and aquanaut Nicole Stott talks jury duty, watercoloring and how to save the world from space
Read MoreFacebook’s strategy has always been to “move fast and break things.” In a brand-new exposé, two veteran New York Times reporters examine what’s been broken.
Read MoreMichael Thompson says he’s proud of his godfather but supports Seuss estate’s action on offensive imagery. By Kate Bradshaw Michael Thompson knew his godfather as Uncle Ted. But to many, many others, Theodor Seuss Geisel was best known by his pen name, Dr. Seuss. Thompson, who now lives in Redwood City, said he was around 3 years old when Geisel dedicated his book “If I Ran the Zoo” to him. That book is one of ...
Read MoreKittens, cockatoos and lizards are stepping into virtual learning (and they’re available for adoption too — see our local list of shelters) (Image via Pets In Need) One topic weighing on many Bay Area parents’ minds has been engaging squirrely kids through, often monotonous, online learning sessions. But what if the next time they checked in on little Timmy, they found him reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar to a bearded dragon? This whimsical circumstance is ...
Read MoreAddiction, obscurity and how Walter Tevis’ childhood experience at Stanford shaped Beth Harmon’s backstory. (Original 650 illustration by Kaz Palladino / Awkward Affections) If you’re having a hard time purchasing a chess set for Christmas this year—blame Walter Tevis. Yes, the surge of interest in the age-old game (and the ensuing retail run on chess sets) has been squarely attributed to the recent success of the Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit, which is based ...
Read MoreGrateful Dead Origins dives deep on the band’s beginnings in Palo Alto and around the Bay. (Image via Z2 Comics) “It’s very weird.” Yep, trying to nail down the logic behind the Grateful Dead’s enduring popularity is a tricky proposition. After all, how exactly did a group of mismatched oddballs from the San Francisco Peninsula vault their unlikely band to global fame, garner a one-of-a-kind devoted fan base and trailblaze a massive counterculture that ...
Read MoreBay Area writer Brad Balukjian traveled the country to track down the players inside one random 1986 pack of baseball cards to ponder the sport’s soul. The cards (and players) that make up “The Wax Pack.” (Photo by Scott Greene, courtesy of Brad Balukjian) The idea itself is a slam dunk…well, er…a home run: open a sealed pack of Topps baseball cards from 1986 and track down each player inside to see what ...
Read MoreAuthor (and soccer mom) Ayelet Waldman documents the progress and positivity of her “really good days” while microdosing on acid By Emily Olson Illustration by Kaz Palladino Ayelet Waldman is a self-identified Jewish mama. She carpools, sips tea and binges Netflix. She wears yoga pants regularly. She attends Pilates classes begrudgingly. A writer, she stays home most days with her labradoodle, which she admits is both a blessing and a curse. She is wife to author Michael ...
Read MoreFrom artificial intelligence to biomedical technology, the Mary Shelley classic exhibits a remarkable relevance (Illustration by Andrew Strawder) Somewhere amid the news of Facebook’s very dystopian sci-fi-sounding artificial intelligence incident this past July, it was easy enough to think of the simple but critical line delivered by Jeff Goldblum’s character in the original Jurassic Park film — “your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if ...
Read MoreStanford grads disrupt the children’s book formula with Goodnight News By Eva Glasrud When it comes to parenting, it can be the simple things that are most challenging, such as the basic “How was your day?” question being answered with an abrupt-sounding one-word answer. In ways that are both predictable and cliche, many parents regard a short response as a sign of growing distance or a candid indication that their child simply doesn’t ...
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