BY: JESSICA BEUKER It’s been three decades since the height of the farm crisis, when farmer suicide rates were at an all time high. Today the suicide rates among farmers are still high—the second highest of any job right now.…
Norway’s prison island treats inmates like they’re at a resort
BY: MATTHEW CHIN When I think of prison, I think of orange jumpers, hands and ankles shackled together with the chains scraping against the concrete floor and the terrible sound of rattling jail cells as batons graze against the metal…
I learned to tap into my subconscious to become a human lie detector
BY: ALEKSANDRA TARABIC I held my hands out straight and pressed my back up against the wall. My arms were parallel with the floor and my fingers were pointing outwards. I was instructed to close my eyes and focus on…
Michigan State PhD candidate just statistically-optimized the most epic US road-trip possible
BY: DANIEL KORN Randy Olsen is a Michigan State University doctoral candidate who previously created an algorithm which plots the fastest search path through any page of a Where’s Waldo? book. On recommendation from Discovery, he turned this same skill-set…
Drug abuse in Portugal has dropped by half since their government decriminalized all drugs
BY: DANIEL KORN A couple months ago, I wrote about the war on drugs. After looking at some data, I concluded that treatment programs were both a more cost-effective and long-term tool for curbing drug addiction than police crackdowns and…
Freight Farms are the portable, weather-proof future of food supply
BY: ZOE MELNYK Typically, when you think of a farm you see acres and acres of open fields filled with some kind of wheat or corn and when you see a farmer, it’s generally someone driving a tractor with plaid…
Middle aged men are dressing like superheroes and protecting America with consumer-grade weapons
BY: DANIEL KORN Master Legend. Mr. Extreme. The Vigilante Spider. These are superhero names that you probably don’t recognize. The reason why you don’t recognize them is because they aren’t adorning the posters for the next hit Marvel film. They…
Earth porn will make you lust for nature (Photos)
To exist even for a speck of time in this vast universe is a superb gift. This tiny splinter of time that we occupy is our only chance at life. The universe will continue, indifferent to our brief existence. Yet…
How a writer used adventure to bridge the gap between unemployment and her dream job
BY: JESSICA BEUKER Geraldine DeRuiter sat in the middle of a hotel bed in Naples, thousands of miles away from home, attempting to drown her sorrows with sweets and wine when she got the text. After months of waiting and…
Why North America needs to adopt the four-day workweek.
It’s a tale as old as time—no matter how you organize your weekends there just doesn’t seem to be enough time to get stuff done and relax. If only there was a day between Saturday and Sunday. If only the…
New edible water blobs are an environmentally-friendly alternative to plastic bottles
BY: DANIEL KORN Everyone pretty much agrees that bottled water is awful. Aside from the ludicrousness of being sold a natural resource for 1,000 times the cost of getting it from a tap, the phenomenon comes with an astounding number…
Wolfie is a 6-year-old gender-independent boy fighting for the right to wear a dress (Video)
Written and imaged by: Annie Sakkab Gender role is subconsciously defined by our society and cultural background. Wolfgang Skinner, nicknamed Wolfie, is a gender independent six-year-old boy. He is fortunate to have three parents and three siblings who are supportive in…
Architects design an eco-house that’s the environmental equivalent of planting over 6,000 trees
BY: DEXTER BROWN Australian prefabricated building company ArchiBlox has built what they call “the world’s first carbon-positive prefabricated house,” according to Dezeen Magazine. The Carbon Positive House, as it’s known, was designed to make more energy than it uses, and it drew international attention…
Modern nomads formed a tribe to live a traditional Native American lifestyle (Photos)
PHOTOGRAPHY BY: Adrain Chesser Surviving in the harsh terrain of the Pacific Northwest, there is a bold tribe of people who live wild and free, practicing the hunter-gatherer lifestyle that ancient Native Americans lived centuries ago. Sleeping outdoors or building…
Vancouver just solidified plans to run on 100% renewable energy
BY: JESSICA BEUKER In a time of climate crisis, any step is a foot forward. Understanding that cities and urban areas are responsible for 70-75 per cent of global C02 emissions, Vancouver has decided to join the face of change.…
6 reasons why Ottawa is the microadventure capital of Canada
BY: MICHAEL LYONS The idea of a microadventure was coined by author Alastair Humphreys, who suggests that “instead of exotic foreign adventures, I am committed to trying to encourage people to get outside, get out of their comfort zone, go…
A potential bridge between Russia and Alaska could lead to the ultimate road trip
BY: ZOE MELNYK The ultimate road trip stretching from New York City all the way to London could be possible if Russia’s plans work out to build a mega highway connecting Russia’s easternmost border with Alaska’s westernmost border. The idea…
The Nimbus e-Car is the eco-friendly hippie van of the future
BY: DANIEL KORN Like most kids who grew up with the benefit of having older siblings, I watched a lot of The Simpsons when I was probably a bit too young to understand certain things about the show, the most…
40,000 Tibetan monks populate the most tranquil village on Earth (Photos)
PHOTOGRAPHY BY: Wanson Luk Surrounded by massive mountain ranges lies the “Roof of the World”- the world’s highest and most isolated grassland plateau. Home to the over 40,000 Tibetan Buddhist monks, many commit thirteen years of their life to complete…
This incredibly courageous 14-year-old boy with a rare skin condition puts adversity in perspective
This video contains graphic imagery that may be upsetting to some viewers. While the images may be painful to watch, Jonathan’s story is simply too important to withhold. Jonathan is the definition of courage, refusing to see himself as a…