Stories by Annalee Newitz
When NASA sent the Voyager into space 30 years ago, it contained record albums intended for alien consumption.
Posted on Sep 11, 2007, Source: AlterNet
Archaeologists have discovered that Brak, a Syrian city and one of the oldest urban areas in the world, was built in a way that completely defies conventional wisdom about how cities grow.
Posted on Sep 5, 2007, Source: AlterNet
Mice genomes are about 85 percent similar to humans, but when the pesky creatures invade our home do we treat them as equals or shift into predator mode?
Posted on Aug 28, 2007, Source: AlterNet
Anonymity online is on the rise, allowing people to write, lie and manipulate data without feeling responsible for it. But who's doing all this hiding? Hint: It's not angry, pajama-wearing bloggers.
Posted on Aug 20, 2007, Source: AlterNet
A digital junkie makes the case for staying with paper.
Posted on Aug 16, 2007, Source: AlterNet
Experts estimate that 75 to 90 percent of pornography winds up in the hands of children due to novel technologies and high-speed distribution networks. If you're ready to blame the internet, you're wrong.
Posted on Aug 7, 2007, Source: AlterNet
Horror movies appeal because humans like to feel grossed out and entertained pleasurably at the same time. There's a payoff in coexperiencing two conflicting emotions.
Posted on Jul 30, 2007, Source: AlterNet
Every generation dreams they'll be the first to cheat death. But too many of our other dreams are likely to spell the end of humanity.
Posted on Jul 24, 2007, Source: AlterNet
So what's the big deal? Why do people even want a $600 phone, and why has this luxury device for the pampered techie become such a hot political issue?
Posted on Jul 17, 2007, Source: AlterNet
Maybe the movie succeeded in pulling off some social commentary after all: welcome to the United States -- ignore the Middle East stuff, but stay for the masturbation jokes and cool special effects.
Posted on Jul 10, 2007, Source: AlterNet
Let's make our techno-bling pretty, at least. Let's remember the days when the machines that now cage us promised liberation.
Posted on Jul 3, 2007, Source: AlterNet
Right now, many companies are trying to figure out cool new ways to use paper. But who is trying to figure out cool new ways to employ smart, highly trained print journalists?
Posted on Jun 25, 2007, Source: AlterNet
With a new lawsuit against file sharers, megacorp Columbia is attempting to do nothing short of changing the way evidence is gathered via the legal discovery process.
Posted on Jun 19, 2007, Source: AlterNet
Google's newest widget has questionable ethics. Do you really want to walk down the street never knowing whether your furtive nose-picking has been captured and broadcast to the Google-using public?
Posted on Jun 13, 2007, Source: AlterNet
Who is to say what is notable enough for Wikipedia? Lutheran ministers? Bisexual Marxists? Hopefully both.
Posted on Jun 5, 2007, Source: AlterNet
Combining libertarianism with green values might be a pragmatic way to convince some of the worst polluters to cut back by essentially bribing them with cash.
Posted on May 29, 2007, Source: AlterNet
The entertainment industry's latest digital rights management scheme shows that Hollywood studios and electronics manufacturers will do anything to suck more money out of the public.
Posted on May 22, 2007, Source: AlterNet
In the TV show "Heroes" there are no terrorists -- only heroes whose powers go wrong and destroy New York in the process. In other words, the only menace to the United States is its own citizens.
Posted on May 15, 2007, Source: AlterNet
Sorry, but we can't digitize everything. Here's why ...
Posted on May 7, 2007, Source: AlterNet
Author Tim Ferriss' productivity strategy of working less and accomplishing more sounds great -- until you realize he does this by outsourcing his work to the developing world.
Posted on Apr 30, 2007, Source: AlterNet
Recent efforts to limit women's control of their bodies doesn't end with abortion. There is also a recent decision from the FDA regarding a pill that would eliminate menstruation.
Posted on Apr 24, 2007, Source: AlterNet
New technology such as Twitter reflects the accelerating pace of our lives. But is living in "Twitter time" really sustainable?
Posted on Apr 17, 2007, Source: AlterNet
The next digital divide could introduce a new era in racial profiling.
Posted on Apr 9, 2007, Source: AlterNet
Pipes, Yahoo!'s latest technological experiment on the Web, may be over-hyped and could actually limit people's control over data.
Posted on Apr 3, 2007, Source: AlterNet
The new attack ad against Hillary Clinton seems to blur the lines between what we should be buying and who we should be voting for.
Posted on Mar 26, 2007, Source: AlterNet
Though finding vulnerabilities in software is usually beneficial for security, a recently released exploit sends privacy down the drain.
Posted on Mar 20, 2007, Source: AlterNet
Ever heard of podthrusting? The newest creations of the Interwebs range from the creative, to the bizarre, to the truly "wtf?"
Posted on Mar 13, 2007, Source: AlterNet
When you store all the ephemera and all the hard work you've done in your life on someone else's server -- Gmail, Flickr, etc. -- you risk a whole lot more than exposing your life to prying eyes.
Posted on Mar 6, 2007, Source: AlterNet
A Stanford graduate student "proved" that men in online virtual worlds behave just like men in real life. But do they really?
Posted on Feb 26, 2007, Source: AlterNet
Gender equality has come a long way when the press doesn't differentiate between homicidal maniacs who are men, and those who are women.
Posted on Feb 20, 2007, Source: AlterNet
In the search for gender-neutral bathrooms, Safe2Pee maps the answers.
Posted on Feb 13, 2007, Source: AlterNet
The long-term sustainability of free speech online is in the hands of capricious companies.
Posted on Feb 5, 2007, Source: AlterNet
Buyers in the U.S. usually give positive feedback or no feedback at all, inflating people's eBay "reputations."
Posted on Jan 30, 2007, Source: AlterNet
His Dark Materials yields more religious propaganda than anti-religious content.
Posted on Jan 23, 2007, Source: AlterNet
A new bill is the latest attempt to curtail free expression online by raising the specter of child abuse.
Posted on Jan 17, 2007, Source: AlterNet
Ruminations on what makes a scientific project too ridiculous to get funded.
Posted on Jan 9, 2007, Source: AlterNet
Eight noble intentions for 2007.
Posted on Dec 27, 2006, Source: AlterNet
WikiChix was recently formed by women contributors sick of how male-dominated Wikipedia has become. The question their move raises is as old as feminism itself.
Posted on Dec 19, 2006, Source: AlterNet
An inside look at the "arms race" between spammers and anti-spam technology.
Posted on Dec 12, 2006, Source: AlterNet
The information age could have happened 2,000 years ago but didn't. What we need to learn from the past -- and correct -- to keep from plunging into another Dark Ages.
Posted on Dec 5, 2006, Source: AlterNet
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