The perfectly sober comeback of…LSD?

Author (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 ...

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Wading into the reality of climate change—one portrait at a time

Wading into the reality of climate change— one portrait at a time Photographer Gideon Mendel discusses his “Drowning World” series ahead of his upcoming talk at the Palo Alto Photo Forum Ahmed. Khairpur Nathan Shah, Sindh; Pakistan. September 2010. (Courtesy of Gideon Mendel) These days it can be difficult to determine which is more alarming—the increasingly frequent news each year of catastrophic weather-related events, or the denialist viewpoint that nothing unusual is happening in that regard. It is ...

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Frankenstein@200: Stanford explores the futurism of a centuries-old novel

From 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 ...

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Meet the youngest person to ever surf the Mavericks big wave break

Half Moon Bay High School student Luca Padua just found out he’s competing on California’s biggest wave. But first, he has to finish English class. Everything is swell: El Granada teenager (and official Mavericks alternate) Luca Padua surfing the famous Northern California break, this past autumn. (Photo by Tony Canadas) Luca Padua was recently sitting in English class at Half Moon Bay High School when he received a text from a friend congratulating him ...

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Photos: Awesome aerial imagery from a (20 year-old) Silicon Valley stunt pilot

Photos: Awesome aerial imagery from a (20-year-old) Silicon Valley stunt pilot Menlo Park native Michael Mainiero shoots—literally—at a higher level Michael Mainiero’s first “air-to-air” shoot (at the age of 17) capturing a Hawker Mk.20 Sea Fury aircraft over the Golden Gate Bridge. (Courtesy of Michael Mainiero) It’s not exactly a hidden secret that the San Francisco Bay Area is a field day for photographers. Between the landscapes and the landmarks, the region is profoundly photogenic ...

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Reimagining the way we ask our kids, “How was your day?”

Stanford 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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Beyond the stratosphere with breakout sci-fi author Andy Weir

The dark horse literary star discusses his new book ahead of his upcoming Mountain View event. By Mark Noack Astronauts activities during Extravehicular Activity (EV)-1. Here Astronaut Robert Stewart during Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) Exercise untethered above the Earth; February 11, 1984. (Image via NASA on FLICKR Commons) For Andy Weir, these are indeed stellar times. Just a few years ago, the Mountain View native was penning a story, between shifts as a software engineer, about an astronaut ...

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Remembering Silicon Valley’s trailblazing “Troublemakers”

Stanford historian Leslie Berlin discusses her new book on the forgotten figures of tech history By Emily Olson Bunch of troublemakers: early Silicon Valley engineers responding to a reporter’s question—“What do you think of Texas Instruments?” (Images Courtesy of the Computer History Museum) It’s possible to explain the history of Silicon Valley using only two types of characters — and no, we’re not talking binary. There’s the “innovators … the typical heroes in our story of technological process,” as Atlantic Senior ...

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Above the clouds and beyond the brink with adventurer Hilaree O’Neill

The ever-ascending athlete talks motherhood, mountaineering and “The Peak of Evil” ahead of her Redwood City Nat Geo talk. By Emily Olson Day at the office: mountaineer Hilaree O’Neill will showcase stories and imagery from her climbs at the Fox Theater in Redwood City as part of the speaker series Nat Geo Live. (Photo by Cory Richards) For most people, a life of ups-and-downs is merely a metaphor. For Hilaree O’Neill, it comes with the job. The ...

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