From badass educators to solving homelessness, we cover the people and ideas changing the world in Culture and Society. We believe that together, we can push the human race forward, one remarkable story at a time.
Culture & Society
Accessibility
Blind YouTuber Shows Tech Industry How to Be More Inclusive
Accessibility
Blind YouTuber Shows Tech Industry How to Be More Inclusive
Visually impaired YouTuber Kristy Viers has created a channel where she demonstrates the assistive technology features on her devices.
Visually impaired YouTuber Kristy Viers has created a channel where she demonstrates the assistive technology features on her devices.
Fixing Justice
Cash Bail Keeps Poor People in Jail. Here’s How We Fix It
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Fixing Justice
Cash Bail Keeps Poor People in Jail. Here’s How We Fix It
Bail reformers say it’s unconstitutional for a person to be imprisoned because they can’t afford bail. Do bail bonds begin punishing the poor before they’re even found guilty?
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Bail reformers say it’s unconstitutional for a person to be imprisoned because they can’t afford bail. Do bail bonds begin punishing the poor before they’re even found guilty?
Catalysts
How to Get a Job When You’re Living in Poverty
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Catalysts
How to Get a Job When You’re Living in Poverty
In this unique job training program for those experiencing poverty, coaches focus on teaching the “harder skills” - love, forgiveness, and connection.
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In this unique job training program for those experiencing poverty, coaches focus on teaching the “harder skills” - love, forgiveness, and connection.
Fixing Justice
Is Police Reform Even Possible?
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Fixing Justice
Is Police Reform Even Possible?
Here are four things we can change to reduce police violence and increase accountability.
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Here are four things we can change to reduce police violence and increase accountability.
Mental Health
Remote Therapy Is As Effective As Face-to-Face, for Depression
Mental Health
Remote Therapy Is As Effective As Face-to-Face, for Depression
The pandemic has therapists' couches off limits. A new study finds that remote therapy may be as effective for depression as face-to-face, so I gave it a try.
The pandemic has therapists' couches off limits. A new study finds that remote therapy may be as effective for depression as face-to-face, so I gave it a try.
Building Community
“Community Fridges” Are Helping Fight Food Insecurity
Building Community
“Community Fridges” Are Helping Fight Food Insecurity
Community fridges stocked with donated food that’s free for the taking are helping neighborhoods across the U.S. overcome food insecurity.
Community fridges stocked with donated food that’s free for the taking are helping neighborhoods across the U.S. overcome food insecurity.
Big Interviews
How ‘Mental Time Travel’ Can Lead Us to Sustainability
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Big Interviews
How ‘Mental Time Travel’ Can Lead Us to Sustainability
Bina Venkataraman, author of The Optimist's Telescope, believes that modern society’s shortsightedness is the root of many avoidable catastrophes.
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Bina Venkataraman, author of The Optimist's Telescope, believes that modern society’s shortsightedness is the root of many avoidable catastrophes.
Connectivity
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Internet
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Connectivity
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Internet
Should internet access be a human right? 42 million Americans still don’t have reliable access, but the pandemic has kickstarted initiatives to change that.
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Should internet access be a human right? 42 million Americans still don’t have reliable access, but the pandemic has kickstarted initiatives to change that.
Accessibility
This Designer is Making Masks for People With Disabilities
Accessibility
This Designer is Making Masks for People With Disabilities
With special closures, see-through panels, and a riot of colors and patterns, designer Sky Cubacub is making face masks for people with disabilities.
With special closures, see-through panels, and a riot of colors and patterns, designer Sky Cubacub is making face masks for people with disabilities.
Favorites in Culture & Society
Relentless
How Hamish Brewer is Changing the Game
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Relentless
How Hamish Brewer is Changing the Game
The Tattooed, Skater Principal Making Education Fun Again
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To hear Hamish Brewer speak is to be inspired. About education. About life. About the possibilities of it all. And for disadvantaged youths that come from poverty and broken homes, the New Zealander with an infectious energy works hard to encourage them to excel, not only in school, but in life. About Hamish Brewer With a shaved head, tattoos, and one of those loud, larger-than-life personalities, Hamish Brewer is hard to...
Wrong
Did the Food Pyramid Make Us Fat?
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Wrong
Did the Food Pyramid Make Us Fat?
To address rising health problems in the 1980s, scientists and policymakers developed the US Food Pyramid to...
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To address rising health problems in the 1980s, scientists and policymakers developed the US Food Pyramid to encourage healthy eating. But despite a massive public education campaign, obesity and diabetes continued to rise. What happened? How did we get it so… wrong?
Steven Pinker Makes the Case for Optimism
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Steven Pinker Makes the Case for Optimism
Are things really worse than ever, or are we missing the bigger picture?
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Author and Harvard professor Steven Pinker lays out what he see as a basic paradox. The news today seems worse than ever - but based on a number of key metrics, Pinker argues the world is better than it’s ever been. Pinker explores the data and makes the case for how can we tackle the world’s problems while not drowning in negativity. That’s the focus of his latest book, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science,...
Future of Cities
Urban Sustainability is at the Heart of Copenhagen Culture
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Future of Cities
Urban Sustainability is at the Heart of Copenhagen Culture
By 2050, 70% of the world’s population will live in urban areas (up from 50% now). With the climate crisis worsening, how can we support this urban trend in a sustainable way?
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By 2050, 70% of the world’s population will live in urban areas (up from 50% now). With the climate crisis worsening, how can we support this urban trend in a sustainable way?
What It Takes
The Snake Milk King
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What It Takes
The Snake Milk King
Enter the Kentucky Reptile Zoo—one of the largest collections of venomous reptiles in the world—and meet Jim Harrison, the man that spent his 42-year career milking King Cobras for anti-venom and saving lives across the globe. What drives a man like this to risk his life each and every day?
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Enter the Kentucky Reptile Zoo—one of the largest collections of venomous reptiles in the world—and meet Jim Harrison, the man that spent his 42-year career milking King Cobras for anti-venom and saving lives across the globe. He’s a former cop, bounty hunter, and professional kickboxer - but for decades now his main focus has been extracting venom from snakes, or “snake milking.” He and his wife, Kristen Wiley, run the...
Culture of Change
Drone Racers Are A Thing and They’re Amazing
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Culture of Change
Drone Racers Are A Thing and They’re Amazing
Blistering speed. Big money. 11-year-old world champions. Is drone racing the next big sport?
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Yes, drone racers are a thing and they’re amazing. The Drone Racing League has gone from a dream to ESPN in a few short years. We met world champion Paul Nurkalla, aka Nurk FPV, and got an inside look at how the DRL is striving to be the next big sports league. Somewhere between esports, NASCAR and Star Wars sits drone racing, also known as FPV racing. It’s a breathtakingly fast spectacle where drone pilots fly quadcopters...
Thinking Differently
The Joy of Being Wrong
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Thinking Differently
The Joy of Being Wrong
Can practicing intellectual humility make us smarter and happier? Science says yes.
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Arguments on social media are notorious. People often naturally form an echo chamber of people with similar beliefs, and when people outside it start arguments, the discussion often becomes antagonistic. Is there a better way? Science suggests that a good starting point is by practicing intellectual humility. By admitting the possibility that we ourselves could be wrong, we’re able to better evaluate arguments and construct...
#FIXINGJUSTICE - harm reduction
24 Years For a Crime He Didn’t Commit
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#FIXINGJUSTICE - harm reduction
24 Years For a Crime He Didn’t Commit
When a prisoner serving a life sentence is suddenly found to be innocent, it often makes national news. But what happens after the cameras go away?
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There are around 2,500 exonerees in the U.S.—people who were convicted of a crime and then later proven innocent by their own doggedness or new evidence in a case. When they are freed from prison, their lives are often saddled by the same issues that hold back people who actually committed a crime—lack of education, no job skills or employment history, and the stigma of having spent years in prison. While their release is...
#FIXINGJUSTICE - policing
Why the 6th Most Dangerous City is Turning to Community Policing
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#FIXINGJUSTICE - policing
Why the 6th Most Dangerous City is Turning to Community Policing
Police departments around the country are increasingly looking at community policing programs as a tool to help reestablish trust in the communities they serve.
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While community policing programs are nothing new, they fell out of popularity after a big push in the early 90s due to shifting priorities and budget crunches of the Great Recession. But with growing scrutiny of police and their often strained relationships with minority communities, police departments are increasingly looking to community policing programs to bridge the gap and rebuild trust. The Rockford Police...
Stand Together
This Restaurant Gives At-Risk Youth a Second Chance
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Stand Together
This Restaurant Gives At-Risk Youth a Second Chance
Cafe Momentum offers an alternative to the revolving doors at Texas jails.
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Chef Chad Houser was a rising star in the Dallas restaurant scene, but after volunteering with kids in the criminal justice system, he felt a calling to do more. He gave up his job to start Cafe Momentum, a restaurant staffed by kids from the criminal justice system. They’re given year-long paid internships where they are taught the skills to succeed in restaurants and society. It’s his way of trying to fix the problems...
#fixingjustice - policing
The Dad Changing How Police Shootings Are Investigated
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#fixingjustice - policing
The Dad Changing How Police Shootings Are Investigated
After his son was killed by police, Michael Bell fought for over a decade to change how we investigate police shootings.
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For over a decade, ever since police killed his son, Michael Bell has been trying to get an independent investigation into the shooting — and he's fighting to make sure that every family is entitled to one, whenever police use lethal force. In November 2004, his son, Michael Bell, Jr., was pulled over in front of his home in Kenosha, Wisconsin, for an alleged traffic violation. Although a dashcam video captures the initial...
Crossing The Divide
LGBT Rights: The Power of a Single Conversation
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Crossing The Divide
LGBT Rights: The Power of a Single Conversation
Why a gay rights activist started a movement to talk to thousands who voted against gay marriage.
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After Californians voted against gay marriage in 2008, Dave Fleischer, head of the Leadership LAB at the Los Angeles LGBT Center, knew he had to do something different to reach people. Dave and his team embarked on an ambitious task to talk to as many people who who disagreed with them as they could. They used a technique called “deep canvassing” where activists connect with people using personal stories to a make deeper...