Oldest Known Star Identified

A Ken Burns iPad app, touchscreen subway maps, swapping sexism and more in our weekly look at the web

Formed 13.6 billion years ago, a star now considered to be the oldest known to date was discovered by a team of Australian astronomers led by Dr. Stefan Keller. Its age was figured out by studying its iron content; Keller says, “The telltale sign that the star is so ancient is the complete absence of any detectable level of iron in the spectrum of light …

Swapping Sexism

A Ken Burns iPad app, touchscreen subway maps, swapping sexism and more in our weekly look at the web

As eye-opening as it is entertaining, the 10-minute short film “Oppressed Majority” by French filmmaker Eleonore Pourriat places a man at the center of the every day aggression most women undergo. The role reversal provides plenty of laughs, but more importantly packs a thoughtful punch. There’s no better way to learn about a day in the life of a woman than by opening the world …

Follow Kerouac’s Tiretracks

A Ken Burns iPad app, touchscreen subway maps, swapping sexism and more in our weekly look at the web

The literary masterpiece “On the Road” inspired an entire generation onward—not that many people seek to follow the tricky turn-by-turn trek Jack Kerouac’s main character Sal Paradise took across the States. Now, thanks to German student Gregor Weichbrodt, there’s a 45-page e-book with the specifics on how to do it. Weichbrodt achieved this feat simply by writing a little bit of code, which plugged all …