Interactive Education with 1000 Days of Syria

A text-based web game, set during the first months of the Syrian uprising

When journalist Mitch Swenson ventured into the north of Syria in September 2013, he witnessed the tragic depths of the war first-hand. Most of the conflict coverage centered around the cities, but Swenson soon found that no person was left untouched by violence, regardless of where they existed within the nation’s borders. With the objective to inform the world of what was going on, Swenson …

Laurel Braitman Reads Pets’ Minds

The author of "Animal Madness" explores the psychology of animals and explains how they are just as much individuals as humans are

Senior TED fellow and science historian Laurel Braitman delivered one of the most engaging talks at TED’s 2014 conference. Her topic? Animal psychology and the emotional spectrum of pets. Braitman has studied the history of science for years—most recently as a PhD student at MIT—and through that lens, atop years of research with domestic animals, she uncovers insight into their emotions, how they affect our …

World Science Festival 2014

Making science accessible and relevant, this year's program features a civil discussion of the Big Bang, pie-o-physics and Paul Rudd as Einstein

While the younger generation may have had entertaining outlets like “The Magic School Bus” book series or “Bill Nye the Science Guy” to make science relevant and accessible, lucky New Yorkers of all ages—especially adults—have the World Science Festival. We wrote about the festival when it first began back in 2008, and the now-annual event has not drifted from its dedication to unique content that …