Latest Ideas headlines

This is the best way to wait for a train.

In honor of this traditional season of spookiness.

The study is from different time periods when the amount of industrial air pollution was at its worst.

If elected, this candidate will turn over his seat to an app.

In this week’s edition: unmarried workers, digitized documents, and the breakthrough CEO.

Acerta made an unusual admission earlier this month.

A pop-up event can make consumers feel like they’re making memories rather than just spending money.

Be careful driving on Memorial Drive.

What happens after augmented reality spreads across the world?

It’s already been used to resurface a bike path, reinforce a dyke, and repave a parking lot.

The dozing Cassiopea raises lots of new avenues for future study.

This week: CEOs, controversial statements, and census data.

Nothing’s less independent than a chain, so the word “independent” is a lie.

What happens now that the project has run out of funding?

A critical lifestyle shift thousands of years ago might have influenced what we see in the mirror today.

The danger for citizens is that for entertainment to be effective, it doesn’t have to be true.

Each wave of new technology brought entrepreneurs trying to capitalize on our desire to look good and feel better.

Stores have stopped selling the figurines amid concerns about glorifying ISIS.

Most have been small shakes. But there have been whoppers, too.

This week: Foxholes, morals, and partisanship.

In a flash, a stolen wallet.

This looked like a big breakthrough for cotton, but there were errors in the paper.

The real risk is assuming that our government will fix itself if we just give it a little more time.

None of us can feel exempt or safe.

It is fear that dominates both sides of the American debate about the millions of semi-automatic weapons in the hands of our neighbors.

In 1787, the challenge was how to keep a fledgling democracy together.

No one is born knowing how to be a good citizen.

Boston-area universities are a mecca for intelligence activity.

We might not need those extra cups of caffeine as much as we think.

The story we tell ourselves about how history unfolds also shapes our expectations of the future.

There’s a never-ending quest to stay ahead of hackers.

The best way to test for Zika is neither cheap nor portable.

No generation has a monopoly on voids.

Environmental impacts in Somerville.

Love, race, and Moneyball in this week’s Uncommon Knowledge.

It can be tough to get cast as an actor.

An unlikely band of Greek reformers may have an answer for an unsettled Europe.

The unexpected handiness of a sexual consent brochure.

This caught marine biologists by surprise.

Now, 7-Eleven is offering a foodie alternative.

Want to add a bit of science to your resume?

Unusual insights from the social sciences.

Owners rated their cats on numerous personality traits.

Surprises for this matchmaker.

One can feel no sympathy for Nazis and still realize that approval of Nazi-punching is likely to lead to escalation of political violence across the board.

The various names we use for child care reflect entirely different views about the role of women in society.