BY: SINEAD MULHERN A classroom is clean but bleak. Students slump in chairs. A mum teacher delivers no lesson. It’s not a lively scene, their insides are straw. Head to a bus stop, fruit stall or lonely corner in the…
Aerial and microscopic photos side by side are strangely similar
BY: KAILEE MANDEL With this series I wanted to juxtapose views of nature in order to de-familiarize the landscape from its literal state. Aerial images demand the viewer’s attention to the terrain and details of the landscape, showing an abstraction unavailable at…
K6G is the LGBTQ-friendly ward inside one of America’s most notorious jails
BY: SINEAD MULHERN Inside LA County Sheriff’s Men’s Central Jail, the K6G ward provides a safe haven for gay and transgendered inmates. The gay ward was created after a 1985 lawsuit where the jail came under scrutiny for the high…
Is #WhitePrivilege actually a thing?
BY: MICHAEL LYONS Do women play video games? Is there really such thing as “rape culture”? Should transgender people be allowed to use whichever sex-segregated bathroom they prefer? Should women call themselves feminists? Does white privilege exist? In the aftermath…
How having a family member with AIDS changed my childhood
BY: QUEENSXXI I was about to turn 18 when I first got the news that my uncle tested positive for HIV/AIDS. It was after my grandma got a phone call from one of my uncle’s friends and started getting suspicious…
Modern Berlin: from the Stasi, Hitler and segregation to MDMA, street art and a culture of freedom
BY: AOIFE RYAN For many, Berlin may provoke images of division and fallen empires, but laced within the nation’s capital are far more rewarding experiences for both the modern traveller and native city dwellers alike. Having been there myself nearly…
Science proves it could actually be your city that is making you depressed
BY: AYA TSINTZIRAS A paper co-authored by academics at the University of British Columbia and Harvard has discovered the happiest and least happy cities in the United States. Joshua Gottlieb and his co-authors Edward Glaeser and Oren Ziv also discovered…
Anti-alcoholic pill: A new medication literally takes the fun out of drinking
BY: TED BARNABY Imagine your drinking partner is a sober and disapproving elderly nun, and you’ve still only come close to the dissatisfaction of taking the recently released drug in the U.K. prescribed to take all the fun out of…
In less than five seconds, this man’s rocket bike reached speeds of over 200 miles per hour
BY: SINEAD MULHERN François Gissy’s bike is a rocket-driven speed demon fast enough to make even the most fearless stunt-doubles squirm. The 32 year-old former bus driver’s bike just set a new world record when it hit a speed of…
When you die this mushroom suit will stop your body from polluting the planet
BY: TED BARNABY Most of us at one point or another have debated our own burial ceremony. Do we want to go six feet under, or be burned and set off into the atmosphere in a cloud of black smoke?…
This guy can speak nine languages better than you can speak one (video)
BY: SINEAD MULHERN Matthew Youlden, a language sponge from Manchester England can speak so many languages with a perfect accent that the man has been coined the “language chameleon”. This sociolinguist who studied translation and interpretation speaks nine languages and…
At 20, Boyan Slat is developing a device to remove 7,250,000 tons of plastic from our oceans
BY: DEXTER BROWN Slat’s ambitious quest started on a Greek scuba diving trip when he was only 16. “I saw more plastic bags than fish,” the Dutch engineering student told the BBC. “Everyone said to me: ‘Oh there’s nothing you can do about plastic…
Dating outside binaries: OkCupid adds over 70 new gender and sexuality options
BY: AL DONATO Finding love on the Internet is hard. And for anyone hooking up often means to lying your ass off. All mainstream dating sites are notorious for ignoring LGBTQ individuals’ diverse identities. For gender, choosing between just male…
In Nepal, Datura is a holy psychedelic, but in the wrong hands it can become “The Devil’s Breath”
BY: TJ MOREY Scopolamine, the Devil’s Breath, Devil’s Apple, are some of the well-known and highly conspicuous names attributed to Datura, a deadly plant that has garnered enough attention, respect, and fear amongst the hardest of psychonauts. Found abundantly and…
New Alzheimer’s test can detect the disease a decade before clinical diagnosis
BY: SINEAD MULHERN New research can help predict Alzheimer’s disease in a patient ten years before a clinical diagnosis. By predicting the disease this early, people can start treating it well ahead of time. In the study, led by Dimitrios…
How technology is slowly ruining your social life (Documentary)
BY: SEBASTIAN BACK As technology continues to transform the social interaction of humans, the question remains: is the shift in the mode of communication liberating us from our surroundings or caging us into a screen? The Future of Interaction by…
The Royal Academy of Arts mistook the base of a broken statue for minimalist art
BY: TED BARNABY In mid-2006, British artist, David Hensel, submitted one of his sculptures—a large, black, laughing head—to the British Royal Academy of Arts in hopes of having it displayed at their Summer Exhibition. He was later delighted to find…
Do you eat food? You should probably be concerned with the fight for GMO labeling
BY: LAURA ROJAS The fight for GMO labeling should be understood just as widely as the pro-marijuana legalization movement. After all, seeing as you need food to survive, you might want to understand the limited choice that stocks grocery store…
The life of a bucket drummer— the performers of Dundas Square
BY: NICOLE SCHMIDT Drumsticks in hand, 57-year-old Mike Gauvreau composes a series of staccato rhythms using nothing but an old bucket. A cowbell that produces a metallic clang when struck has been fastened to the handle with a zip tie.…
These Polaroid portraits of Kenyans will make you reconsider your self-entitlement to technology (PHOTOS)
BY: KAILEE MANDEL I took a trip to Kenya to photograph the wildlife with my family and we were told to bring presents for the children. I did not want to bring the typical candy or toys; I wanted to…