Author Clock’s Whimsical Design Interweaves Time + Literature

Part clock and part literary archive, this fiction-infused product rethinks how time is told

Checking the time throughout the day isn’t often fun or memorable, yet the Author Clock—launching today on Kickstarter—is designed to change that. Using literary quotes that mention a specific time, this charming clock conveys each minute within the day. These quotes, sourced from over a thousand books across six centuries, deliver the hour while conjuring famed fictional worlds—from Virginia Woolf to William Shakespeare—turning temporality into …

Mami Wata’s Proudly African Surf Apparel is Revolutionizing The Surf Industry

Incorporating folklore and sayings from Indigenous communities, Mami Wata's striking patterns capture the undeniable spirit of Africa

Mami Wata (meaning “mama water” in West African pidgin English) is a guardian water spirit, venerated throughout Africa. Legend has it that those she takes as her lovers return to land more beautiful and successful than before—a fitting lore for the surf apparel brand that is not only named after the spirit, but whose garments, embodying African traditions and cultures, crowned the surf label as …

Exhibition Captures the Depth of Climate Change With an Ampoule of Air from 1765

At the Glasgow Science Centre, the Polar Zero exhibition chronicles climate change in a remarkable new way. Featuring an ampoule of air from 1765, the exhibit showcases the purest possible air trapped in ice, dated right before what scientists believe is the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Artist Wayne Binitie—in collaboration with scientists from the British Antarctic Survey—discovered how to dig and analyze ice cores …