Black Panther's Oscar Wins Made History
Good morning, and welcome to a special post-Oscars edition of The Monitor. Yes, in this latest edition we have news about Marvel's big wins, Netflix's one big loss, and the dedication Carrie Fisher probably could've done without. Stick with us, kid—we promise you'll be as shocked as Olivia Colman winning an Academy Award. Black Panther…
The Subtle Nudges That Could Unhook Us From Our Phones
Enough. It's time. You've decided to reclaim your morning commute by spending it on something substantive. No more bottomless Instagram feeds and auto-playing YouTube videos for you! So out the door you stride with that week's New Yorker wedged beneath your arm, a new episode of Flash Forward playing in your ear, or the latest…
Why Symmetry Continues to Beguile Mathematicians
You could forgive mathematicians for being drawn to the monster group, an algebraic object so enormous and mysterious that it took them nearly a decade to prove it exists. Now, 30 years later, string theorists—physicists studying how all fundamental forces and particles might be explained by tiny strings vibrating in hidden dimensions—are looking to connect…
While You Were Offline: Twitter Says Goodbye to the Opportunity Rover
What kind of a week includes Congress turning on the president, Barbies in wheelchairs, adorable wire fox terriers, and actual, genuine discussion over where politicians fall on the moldy jam issue? Your answer, of course, should simply be, "Oh, just any ol' week in 2019." This, dear friends, is the hyper-accelerated world of today, and…
Fallout 76's Buggy Beta Apologia and the Rest of the Week in Gaming
Halloween is nearly upon us, and game news is—well, actually pretty normal. Let's catch up. Bethesda Prepares Readers to Expect Bugs, Hilariously With all the grace of an iPhone Notes application apology, Bethesda tweeted out a very official-looking letter to fans this week in advance of its Fallout 76 beta test. The letter does two…
How to Build a Space Communication System Out of Lasers
In October 2013, a moon-orbiting NASA spacecraft aimed a laser beam at Earth, 239,000 miles away. Within seconds, the intended recipient—an observatory in New Mexico—locked onto the beam of infrared light, invisible to the naked eye. Encoded inside the light was a high-definition video of NASA administrator Charles Bolden delivering a short speech. Bolden had,…
A Month's Worth of Rain Will Hit California This Weekend
You can see it on satellite imagery—a chaotic blur of wind and water shaped like a giant alien starfish over Australia, extending a tentacle diagonally across the Pacific and right into the Golden Gate. It’s called an atmospheric river, over a thousand miles of water and wind. This weekend is going to be as wet…
The Future of Super Bowl Ads Doesn’t Include TV—or Football
This Super Bowl Sunday, as football fans gather for pre-game festivities, musical theater enthusiasts will have their own spectacle to appreciate: a one-time-only performance at famed downtown NYC theater Joe’s Pub, starring actor and Broadway star Dexter’s Michael C. Hall. The production, written by Pulitzer-finalist playwright Will Eno, is an anti-consumerist allegory filled with songs…
The Physics of the Speeder Chase in Solo: A Star Wars Story
I make it my job to hunt through all the best trailers and find some cool physics thing to explore. In this case, it's the trailer for Solo: A Star Wars Story—the Han Solo-led movie, scheduled to come out in May, that takes place some time before Episode IV: A New Hope. Right at the…
The 6-Foot Chinese Giant Salamander Is in Serious Trouble
The 6-foot-long, 140-pound Chinese giant salamander is a being that defies belief—and seemingly the laws of the physical universe. It’s the largest amphibian on the planet, a gargantuan (though harmless) beast that rests on river-bottoms hoovering up fish. Once it grows big enough, not many critters dare touch it—save for, of course, humans. Particularly the…