Burkinabè Architect Francis Kéré Wins the Pritzker Prize

Diébédo Francis Kéré, founder of the Berlin-based practice Kéré Architecture, has become the first Black individual to win the field’s highest honor, the Pritzker Prize. Hailing from the remote village of Gando in Burkina Faso, Kéré won a scholarship to study woodwork in Germany before transitioning to architecture at the Technical University of Berlin. His career began upon his return to Burkina Faso, when he …

Interview: Louise McGuane, Founder of J.J. Corry Irish Whiskey

Founded in 2015, this premium liquor brand is set on reviving the art of Irish whiskey bonding

Prior to the onset of today’s expansive international interest in Irish whiskey, entrepreneur Louise McGuane wanted to elevate the category and revive the historic process of bonding—where a proprietor buys spirit, then blends, matures, bottles and sells it. In 2015, McGuane, a spirits-industry veteran, founded J.J. Corry Irish Whiskey to usher that tradition into the present day and infuse it with values she observed in the craft spirits …

The Ionic Wind Aircraft Flies Without Moving Parts

A team of MIT engineers, led by Steven Barrett (an associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics at the academic institution), have invented the Ionic Wind Aircraft—a first-of-its-kind flying vessel that employs no moving turbines or propellers. Rather, the craft’s flight is sustained by an “ionic wind” (aka electroaerodynamic thrust) produced when a current passes between thin (positively charged) and thick (negatively charged) electrodes onboard. Lithium-polymer …