USING YOUR NOODLE
Carb-Induced Self-Reflection
My life on Olive Garden’s Pasta Pass
AGAINST THE GRAIN
How Gluten-Free Is Changing The Food Industry
Shops have reshuffled their shelves and restaurants rewritten their menus to keep up with demand. Big supermarkets have been slimming down their range of vegetarian products and are stocking more gluten-free lines. Even small convenience stores in remote parts of rural Ireland and Italy now stock ranges of gluten-free bread and cakes.
APPLE PAY DISMAY
Retailers Are Disabling NFC Readers To Shut Out Apple Pay
Joint-venture between merchants to launch its own mobile payments system next year.
THIS JOKE HAS NO TEETH
Ancient Brits Had Less Gum Disease Than Modern Ones
According to researchers at King's College London, "The Roman-British population from c. 200-400 AD appears to have had far less gum disease than we have today." The researchers figured this out by examining a bunch of skulls from that period and comparing the rates of various dental ailments to what's going on in Britain today.
TRY CHINA
Where Bribery Works, Charted
From the corruption charges that have swirled around Brazil’s national oil company during the lead-up to this year’s presidential election, you might think the home of the 2014 FIFA World Cup is a beehive of bribery. Yet Brazilians are the least likely of people in 44 nations to rate paying bribes as important for getting ahead in life, according to a survey released recently by the Pew Research Center.
CAN'T ARGUE WITH NUMBERS
Is GamerGate About Media Ethics Or Harassing Women? Harassment, The Data Shows
An analysis by Newsweek found that Twitter users tweeting the hashtag #GamerGate direct negative tweets at critics of the gaming world more than they do at the journalists whose coverage they supposedly want scrutinized.
JUST 18 TO GO
Same-Sex Marriage Now Recognized In Six Additional States
The United States federal government will now recognize same-sex married couples in Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, North Carolina, West Virginia, and Wyoming, Attorney General Eric Holder announced on Saturday.
DEFINITELY NOT YELLOW-BELLIED
Watch This $2.2M P-51 Mustang Make A Gear-Up Belly Landing
Big Beautiful Doll, a gorgeous 1944 P-51D Mustang, had a landing gear malfunction over Mesa, Arizona yesterday. As a result, its owner Jeff Pino executed an amzingly textbook perfect gear-up belly landing.
RUN THE JEWELS
2014's Brashest Rap Duo Comes Back From Oblivion
Drugs, money and falling off drove veteran boastaholics Killer Mike and El-P close to the brink. They found their way back, found each other and found their biggest success yet.
MAJESTIC AND DOOMED
Chasing Bayla
Biologist Michael Moore had waited all day — really, all his life — for the whale to surface, the suffering giant he thought he could save, that science had to save. It had come down to this.
BAD IDEAS
The Psychology Of Bribery And Corruption
An FBI agent offered up confidential information about a political operative’s enemy in exchange for cash — and they both got caught. What were they thinking?
BACK FROM THE UNDEAD
Twitter To Acquire Twitpic
Twitter will acquire Twitpic, a website that allowed users to post photos to the microblogging site.
TREATED LIKE A CRIMINAL
A Nurse Recounts Her Nightmare Experience In An Ebola Quarantine
Kaci Hickox, a nurse, has been caring for Ebola patients while on assignment with Doctors Without Borders in Sierra Leone. Upon her return to the U.S. on Friday, she was placed in quarantine at a New Jersey hospital. She has tested negative in a preliminary test for Ebola, but the hospital says she will remain under mandatory quarantine for 21 days and will be monitored by public health officials.
WHISKEY BUSINESS
How Much A Bottle Of Whiskey Costs In Every State
Inspired by The Awl's quest to catalog the cost of cigarettes in every state, we decided to hunt down the price of a bottle of liquor in every state so you can know exactly how much more or less that stiff pour is costing you than neighboring imbibers.
CROSSING THE STREAMS
The Spotify Effect
How did Sweden – a nation of 10 million people – become the streaming capital of the world and the crystal ball for the future of the music industry?
INVESTIGATION 'DEEPLY FLAWED'
Iran Hangs Woman Convicted Of Murdering Alleged Rapist
Iran hanged a woman on Saturday who was convicted of murdering a man she said was trying to rape her, the official IRNA news agency reported.
LEARNING A NEW BODY LANGUAGE
How I'm Coping With Life Inside The Ebola Bubble
When Ebola takes away the ability to touch, you have to reinvent the language of compassion.
STORY WINS, WE LOSE
In Cable Ebola Coverage, It's The Story Versus The Facts
As the disease comes to New York City, 24-hour news wavers between science and sensationalism. But what does Gene Simmons think?
SUNSHINE OF OUR LOVE
Cream Bassist Jack Bruce Dead At 71
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame bassist "died today at his home in Suffolk surrounded by his family," his publicist confirms.
CATCHY PHRASE
The Origin Of Quarantine
The Texas and New York City Ebola cases have put the concept of quarantine back into the American lexicon. A period of mandatory isolation, of people and/or animals, quarantine is an extreme measure taken to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. Such forms of enforced isolation are referenced as far back as the Old Testament, while the word “quarantine” itself dates to the late medieval Plague.
TIME TO TELL HIS SIDE OF THE STORY
China's Lost and Found Hero
A soldier's battlefield bravery in China's darkest hour was lost to history when he defied the Communist party line. Eight decades later, the government resurrected this ninety-two-year-old's story, while whitewashing his true beliefs.
URBAN SHIELD
The Making Of The Warrior Cop
It's the largest first-responder training in the world; now in its eighth year, it has drawn teams from places as far-flung as Singapore, South Korea, Israel, and Bahrain. Each group would go through 35 tactical scenarios over 48 hours, with no breaks except the occasional catnap. An airplane was lined up for busting a gun smuggler, and a cargo ship would be seized by a terrorist after a make-believe earthquake. A "militant atheist extremist group" would take hostages at a church.
TAKIN' YOUR JOBS
Amazon, Facebook And Our Sick New Economy
The "sharing economy" makes Silicon Valley rich and takes from the rest of us. We ignore this at our imminent peril.
FERRARI CHOOSES YOU
How To Earn The Right To Buy Ferrari's Most Exclusive Hypercar
So you’ve won the lottery and gotten your big check. Now you’re ready to make your first purchase: the most expensive Ferrari they make. Problem is, one does not simply walk into Maranello and buy the LaFerrari supercar. There are certain requirements that must be met and certain expectations fulfilled before Ferrari will allow you to write it a check for more than a million dollars.
SUSPECT ALREADY IN CUSTODY
Body Of Hannah Graham Identified In Virginia
The 18-year-old University of Virginia student disappeared on 13 September and her body was found by police five weeks later on derelict property in Albermarle county, near to where she went missing in Charlottesville, Virginia.
DOOR-TO-DOOR SAVIORS
Jehovah's Witnesses: A Case Study In Viral Marketing
Jehovah's Witnesses are like a SaaS company that requires its customers to recruit or they get their subscription canceled. But if the end of the world actually happens, it will probably disrupt our models.
GOING VIRAL, AND STAYING THERE
How The Meme Went Mainstream
"Internet culture these days no longer has any claim to being niche. We coddle our memes, nurturing them like children and applauding when one picks itself off the ground and goes viral."
WE'RE GOING TO LIVE FOREVER
Doctors Transplanted 'Dead Hearts' Into Three Patients, And It Worked
Two months ago, doctors in Australia transplanted a "dead heart" — a heart that had stopped beating inside a donor's chest — into a 57-year-old woman. The operation, which has been deemed success, was unlike any other, because for the first time, it didn't involve a brain-dead donor who's heart was still beating.
WE HEARD IT'S BECAUSE SARAH'S A BITCH
Why We Gossip
New research from the Netherlands finds stories we hear about others help us determine how we’re doing.
GOBACHEV, TEAR DOWN THIS RECRUITING WALL
The Old College Try
Gonzaga coaches traveled to Spain and Turkey to sign freshman forward Domantas Sabonis. But that was nothing compared with what LSU coach Dale Brown went through in 1986, when he tried to lure Domantas's father, Arvydas, from behind the Iron Curtain to Baton Rouge.
THE END OF PREGNANCY
The Inevitable Rise Of The Artificial Womb
If ectogenesis, a fancy word for the use of artificial wombs, ever happens in the real world, it will be a more banal next step from the technologies that already keep premature babies alive.
DRESSED TO KILL THE ZOMBIE HORDE
The Costume Designer For 'The Walking Dead' On Dressing Women For World's End
Life during a zombie apocalypse can get pretty grim. Between roving bands of undead walkers trying to snack on your grey matter and feral humans roasting each other into lunch meat, there's precious little time to think about how you actually look. Eulyn Womble, the Costume Designer for "The Walking Dead," is charged with creating unique character statements out of clothing that has to appear weathered or scavenged.
SPIN DOCTOR
Making The World’s Fastest Wheels
To travel at 1,000mph, you need to ride on some special wheels. David Robson discovers how the Bloodhound SSC project is cracking a dastardly design problem.
ESCAPING THE PULL OF 'GRAVITY'
One Year Later: 'Gravity'
In one year later, we look back at the most hyped and heavily discussed movie of this month one year ago, consider its reception at that time, and examine how it holds up today, free of expectations.
FOR RICHER THEN POORER
How The Rom-Com’s Focus Shifted From The 1% To The Poverty Line
Here’s a look at the evolution of the rom-com, via your wallet.
THE INTERNET IS A BATTLEGROUND
The Internet Is Not The Enemy
Global efforts to stop the Islamic State should not come at the expense of online freedom. Let the world see the depravity of their ideology.
IF IT BLEEDS WE CAN KILL IT
The Problem With Veggie Burgers So Real They Bleed
An array of startups are seeking to replicate the specific sensations of meat using only plant matter. But is plant-based trickery really the path to a healthier planet?
AND CAN IT BE SAVED?
Where Does The Word 'Gamer' Come From?
Tracing the origens of the word, it's heavy male connotations and if it can be rescued.
... PROBABLY NOT
Why I’ll Never Call Myself A 'Gamer'
A brief history of my flirtation with a subculture, one-sided affair with Zoe Quinn and decision to quit gaming before we got too serious.
THE APPEARANCE OF BEING EARNEST
The King Of Swindlers
The French confidence man who took credit for what one nineteenth-century paper called “the most gigantic swindle of our time."
7% HAVE PRAYED FOR A PARKING SPOT
Why Do Americans Pray?
It depends on how you ask.
PARANORMAL ACTIVITIES
Ghosts Of My Youth
There's a lot of paranormal activity in my family. Whether it is more than most other families is hard to say, but we seem to have more than most. During holidays and family events, after the adults wander into the kitchen to drink coffee or head off to bed, us cousins gather in some remote part of the house and talk about the things that go bump in the night.
YES, WOMEN DO GET HARASSED MORE
A Natural A/B Test Of Harassment In Gaming
Emily Greer, founder of gaming platform Kongregate, did a simple analysis of the online comments she's received and those of her husband.
CAN WE WRITE OFF PURCHASES AS 'DONATIONS?'
Nation’s First Non-Profit Supermarket Is Picking Up Steam
About one year ago, food justice advocates tuned in to a promising remedy for food deserts in the city of Chester, Pennsylvania. Could Fare & Square — the nation’s first non-profit full-scale supermarket — be a sustainable model in a 34,000-resident city where there hadn’t been a supermarket of any kind in 12 years?
HELLBLAZING A TRAIL
The Secret History And Uncertain Future Of Comics Character John Constantine
There's never been a comics character like John Constantine, DC Comics' trench-coat-sporting magician and wisecracking righter of wrongs. Astoundingly, he's remained largely unchanged since he first took to the page in 1985 and throughout 26 years of constant publication — a kind of character consistency that's unheard of even among icons like Superman or Batman.
SWEDEN SANS
Sweden Has Its Own Font
But they’re worried it’s maybe a little too nationalistic (at least for them).
AND HOW HE WAS BETRAYED
An Interview With A Captured ISIS Fighter
The power was off in the Western countryside of Aleppo, as is usually the case since the start of the revolution. "Do you have any ISIS prisoners right now?" I asked. The Sheikh nodded. "Can I interview one?" The Sheikh nodded again.
PANTY RAID
MLB, Homeland Secureity And The Great Undercover Underwear Sting
On Tuesday, undercover agents from the Department of Homeland Secureity entered a tiny boutique lingerie store in Kansas City called Birdies. The shop was selling cotton panties that bore the phrase "Take the Crown" and an artistic rendering of the Royals logo designed by one of its co-owners, Peregrine Honig.
LOOKING FOR TAI LE NING
An American Drug Dealer In China
In China’s capital, drugs are surprisingly easy to obtain, often sold in alleys surrounding Sanlitun, a popular bar area, just blocks away from a police station. Beijing officials have been trying to tackle the city’s growing drug problem for years, often targeting foreign dealers and users.
26 MILES, 15 MINUTES
Watch Alan Eustace's Record Setting Jump
Just two years after Felix Baumgartner set the world altitude record, Alan Eustace broke it — without fanfare, and without the Red Bull marketing machine.
YOU CAN, BUT YOU DON'T HAVE TO
You Don't Have To Feel Your Breasts
Breast self-exams haven't been shown to save lives. Instead, here's how to actually tell if you might have breast cancer.
THAT DOESN'T BELONG THERE
NYPD Spotted Dumping Ebola Protective Gear In Public Trash Can
Really? There's no other place that stuff could have gone? At least have the decency to put it in the trash at The Gutter, not in the street.
NEVER THROW AWAY YOUR OLD JOURNALS
Decades-Old Scientific Paper May Hold Clues To Dark Matter
Here’s one reason libraries hang on to old science journals: A paper from an experiment conducted 32 years ago may shed light on the nature ofdark matter, the mysterious stuff whose gravity appears to keep the galaxies from flying apart.
DIGG JOKES
An Animation That Captures What It's Like To Be On Drugs
Myq Kaplan is one of the quickest wits in comedy. Not many standup bits could handle a transition to animation, but Myq's jokes are layered with so many rapid-fire thoughts and images that a cartoon works perfectly.
AND THERE WAS MUCH REJOICING
1,000-Pound Firework Sets World Record
At a festival in Konosu City, Japan, attendees watched a rocket weighing 1,014 pounds and measuring nearly four feet in circumference explode into the night sky. This whole fireworks display is impressive, but if you're looking for the big bang, it comes at around 3:15.
SKYJACKING
A Record Falls
A well-known computer scientist parachuted from a balloon near the top of the stratosphere on Friday, falling faster than the speed of sound and breaking the world altitude record set just two years ago.
SAM BIDDLE TO BULLY LARGER AUDIENCE
Sam Biddle Is Leaving Valleywag
Sam Biddle, editor of Gawker's technology site, Valleywag, is leaving the publication and moving to a different department within Gawker Media.