Silent Films Find an Audience Again

Silent Films at NYC’s Film Forum has been offering newcomers and silent film enthusiasts the opportunity to view classics backdropped with live music for the past 40 years—and Steve Sterner, the program’s piano accompanist, has spearheaded the task for the last 35. But a large portion of the audience is comprised of viewers who have lived less than half that span: for example, “Shane Fleming, …

Japan’s Elevator From Earth to Low Orbit Space

“For over a century scientists and sci-fi writers alike have dreamed of creating a space elevator to ferry astronauts and payloads between the Earth and low orbit,” Jason Daley of Smithsonian Magazine writes. Now, Japanese scientists will make a step toward such a futuristic development. Two satellites—roughly four cubic inches—will test elevator motion in space, as they launch with a 33-foot steel cable binding them, …

Slow Yourself Down to the Sounds of Irish Cattle Grazing

From the sounds of cows being herded up a mountain to leaves crunching underfoot on a countryside walk, BBC’s Radio 3 will soon include programming aimed at meditative relaxation. At present, their (generally older) audience tunes in for jazz, opera and classical music. With the upcoming “slow radio,” the BBC is tapping into, more or less, the success of ASMR—quieter, soothing sounds. Radio 3 controller Alan …