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The 1943 DAF Mobile Raincoat – A Lightweight Three-Wheeled Vehicle That Could Fit Through A Doorway

— Lori Dorn | June 21, 2025

The automotive channel Cool Ideas took a look at the 1943 DAF Mobile Raincoat, a petite and lightweight three-wheeled vehicle with a remarkable ability to go in reverse at 35 miles per hour and narrow enough to fit through a doorway.

The uniquely designed car was conceived and built by DAF co-founder Hub van Doorne during the Nazi occupation of The Netherlands as either escape car or a simple way to drive oneself into the house and out of the rain. After the war, the vehicle was donated to a circus and now sits at the DAF Museum in Eindhoven.

1943 DAF Mobile Raincoat was no ordinary wartime vehicle — it was a 330 lb three-wheeled clown car capable of reversing at 35 mph. Born under Nazi occupation and gasoline shortages, it was tiny enough to fit through a doorway and strange enough to confuse traffic, pedestrians, and physics alike.

— Via Miss Cellania

— Lori Dorn is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor Based in New York City who has been Writing Blog Posts for over a decade

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The Surprising Tricks Cacti Use To Survive The Harshest Climates On Earth

We All Know Cacti Store Water—But To Survive, They Migrate Their Flowers, And So Much More. Scientists Want To Copy The Resilient Plants' Methods To Help Engineer Our Future.

— By Angela Posada-Swafford | Photographs By Christian Ziegler | Published: October 22, 2024 | Tuesday June 24, 2025

The Creamy White-and-Yellow Flowers of the Saguaro Open in Sequence Around the Plant’s Crown.

On a bright spring day, a lone 28-foot cactus towered above the dusty scrub within Saguaro National Park in Arizona. Despite the cloudless sky and oven-like heat, the spiky giant looked strong and healthy. Rain had recently fallen in the park, and the plant’s pleated sidewalls were extended, retaining hundreds of gallons of water inside.

Such internal reservoirs help cacti thrive where other plants would instantly wilt. But the saguaro species (Carnegiea gigantea), native to the Sonoran Desert in the United States and Mexico, hides another evolutionary trick. To capture it in action, a park biologist named Don Swann had arrived with an extra-long, custom-made telescoping pole and camera mount system that he extended toward the giant’s crown. Then he snapped several digital photos, the latest in a set of images he’d been taking for several weeks. Later that afternoon, Swann reviewed the time-lapse series and pointed out that “something miraculous” was happening.

The Sonoran Desert lies in both the United States and Mexico; its Estimated 140 Cactus Species are being tested by increasingly hot and dry conditions.

The photos highlighted an array of tightly shut white-and-yellow flowers that ringed the top of the plant. Saguaro flowers bloom only once and typically at night to protect their delicate internal anatomy from long hours of intense sun. But the photos, when viewed sequentially, revealed something else: The buds appeared to be moving. From mid-April through mid-June, the flowers were slowly migrating in a counterclockwise fashion, traveling radially from the plant’s eastern face to its northern side, which offered more consistent shade.

“This could allow saguaros to take advantage of warmer temperatures, and more sun, during the cooler early spring, while minimizing the more deleterious heat effects later in the season,” Swann suggested.

Annika Hoerner, NGM Staff. Sources: Daniel Winkler, USGS; NPS

Over the past half decade, Swann and other park scientists have teamed up with a group of citizen scientists to photograph 55 saguaros, becoming the first researchers to confirm with visual evidence that this floral migration happens annually. This is just one trait associated with just one species: All told, there are more than 1,500 known species of cacti, which, while still threatened by the unpredictability of climate change and human encroachment, continue to live in some of the harshest climates on Earth.

“A lot of the stories that have come out about cacti are fearful and negative,” says desert plant ecologist Ben Wilder, director of the Next Generation Sonoran Desert Researchers, an organization that connects experts across the border between Mexico and the U.S. “To me, cacti are such a beautiful story of adaptation to arid environments and all these different strategies of resilience and prosperity.”

For researchers, cacti now represent a new frontier of survival, one offering surprising lessons that, if harnessed correctly, could be applied to a world far beyond them.

Scientists are Discovering that Saguaro Cactus Spines Contain Information on Past Climate Conditions, Similar to Tree Rings.

A Native Bee Pollinates a Cactus Flower. Native bees are more successful than European Honey Bees at Pollinating Desert Cacti. In return, the plants provide the Specific Type of Pollen the Bees need to Feed Their Young.

A Single Cactus can have a Diversity of Features. These emerging spines of the Senita Columnar Cactus remain short on the lower part of the plant. Higher up, other spines will erupt into a thick mass of bristle-like spikes, each growing up to four inches long.

The family Cactaceae, which evolved 35 million years ago in the Americas, is one of the most diverse and outlandish assemblages of plants on the planet. They can branch out as massive trees, rise as 60-foot-tall columns, grow as thick balloons, or fit on a one-cent coin. Some are “living rocks” able to handle soils that would desiccate any other plant, while others grow furry white coats to keep them from the elements in the cold Andean altitudes.

None of those forms would exist if it weren’t for a fundamental advancement: Cacti and other succulents have developed a unique approach to photosynthesis. Each time a plant opens its pores to take up the carbon dioxide necessary for energy conversion, some water is lost. If this happens frequently during daytime, high temperatures will cause the water to evaporate quickly.

To prevent that, the desert plants don’t open their pores until the sun goes down. Then they absorb atmospheric gas and convert it into malic acid, which is stored in large sacs inside their cells for use the next day. It’s a process called crassulacean acid metabolism, or CAM.

Saguaro Flowers slowly opened after sunset over the course of one-to-two hours.

John Cushman, a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Nevada in Reno, dreams of cultivating this genetic trait in more plants. On the agricultural front, this could lead to more efficient crops that lose less water under drought conditions. While that breakthrough may be years or even decades away, researchers have still found one way to make non-cactus plants be at least a little more cactus-like.

Before cultivating CAM in new plants, scientists need to alter their leaf anatomy to store malic acid and accommodate larger cells, the processing warehouses for this interaction. One by-product is that plants with larger cells can also hold more water, encouraging succulence, or the ability for their tissues to grow bigger and retain more available moisture. In a 2018 paper, Cushman demonstrated engineering tissue succulence in a small, white-flowered weed called mouse-ear cress (Arabidopsis thaliana). A follow-up study, published in 2020, shows that the leaves of an experimental plant grew 40 percent thicker.

A Lesser Long-Nosed Bat Drinks Sweet Nectar from a Saguaro Flower, which Blooms Only Once, at night, and Closes the Next Day.

“It’s an exciting adaptation that we still have a lot to learn from,” says Cushman. For one thing, if a plant can expand the amount of water that it carries within its tissues, it can likely dilute the excessive salts that tend to concentrate in the soil during drought periods. Cushman is applying this science to soybeans, the second largest commodity crop in the U.S., in hopes of radically improving food security.

Designing smarter crops and botany with cactus-inspired attributes is a pretty big leap. But researchers are now identifying other superpowers that can be applied in dramatic ways to innovations that don’t require plants at all—for instance, new building materials. One of the most exciting advancements involves Copiapoa, a genus that comprises at least 32 species, mostly exclusive to the coastal Atacama region in northern Chile, the driest nonpolar desert on Earth. For scientists, unlocking the mystery of how they endure starts with their unique shape. Most plants are five to six inches in diameter and can form into gray-greenish cushions that dot an eerie landscape otherwise devoid of vegetation.

“Very little is known about the biology of these plants,” says Carol Peña, a botanist from the University of Concepción in Chile who regularly treks into the barren hills of the backcountry to explore how they sustain themselves. She often finds them tucked between folds of rock in a gully or set on steep cliffs facing the coast.

As Peña explains it, copiapoas probably survive by “drinking” the salty camanchaca fog that sweeps in from the sea every morning, as well as the dew that condenses on their spines and skin. That revelation, documented by many scientists, has inspired biomimicry researcher Tegwen Malik, from Swansea University in the United Kingdom, to think about whether the dew-collecting process might be replicated in metal structures.

Specifically, Malik took a close look at the conical, one-and-a-quarter-inch spines of the green and amber globular species C. cinerea var. haseltoniana and found that their surface has a series of tiny grooves that broaden at the base. “This creates a surface roughness gradient that enables dew droplets to be channeled along them even against gravity,” she says.

Starting in 2013, she set out to re-create that structure by engineering a flat steel and aluminum replica of the stem and spines of the cactus, which she began testing under a series of different temperatures and humidities. After several years of experiments—testing indoor and outdoor conditions, and with various cooling methods—she finally got it to work. In 2023, Malik published a study showing that the prickly, contoured surface was 8 percent more efficient at harvesting dew than a flat sheet used as a baseline.

To optimize her design, she imagines desert homes with these water-collecting features. The innovation could even be adopted more widely as a humanitarian measure to secure clean drinking water in arid regions that lack lifesaving resources. “The easiest way could be to place the dew-harvesting surfaces on roof tiles, but you could also have these structures in tents in the desert, for example,” she says. “We truly have a hidden gem in the Copiapoa, and we are only just learning some of their secrets.”

A Hummingbird Surveys the Flowers of an Octopus Cactus, Native to Mexico. The Plant Grows a Thicket of Thorny Stems That Can Spread up to 30 Feet.

At a moment when the long-kept secrets of the cacti are closer than ever to being revealed, the plant itself is facing a difficult future. Around 60 to 90 percent of cactus species will be negatively affected by climate change or human activity, according to a study co-authored by Bárbara Goettsch, co-chair of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Cactus and Succulent Plants Specialist Group. “Cacti are among the most threatened taxonomic groups assessed to date,” says Goettsch.

Case in point: March 2021 marked the end of the driest year in the past seven decades for the southern Baja California peninsula in Mexico. In response, large tracts of the famous columnar organ pipe (Stenocereus thurberi) are showing a yellowing of their stems.

Wilder, the director of the Sonoran research group, calls this a “cactus scorching event,” the long-term effects of which are still largely unknown. What is clear is that some plants’ photosynthetic systems appear to be breaking down because of the stress from intense heat and lack of moisture. “What we are seeing is that these extreme heat and drought events are having a landscape-level impact on the cactus population,” he says.

Back in Tucson, Swann remained skeptically optimistic about the species he’s been carefully photographing. He recently joined the Saguaro Arms Citizen Science Project, which began in the spring of 2023, and is discovering that saguaros appear to grow their first arm on the southeastern-facing side to receive more energy from the sun. At the same time, he’s collaborating in the Future of the Saguaro research project, a partnership that aims to learn more about saguaro responses to climate change, including by planting test beds to study the genetics associated with heat resistance.

As the sun beat down, Swann gestured toward a slope covered in the iconic cacti, whose twisting arms make it nearly impossible to ignore their humanlike appearance. “These saguaros are going to live for a long time,” he said. Some specimens may live more than 200 years. The opportunity for discovery is just heating up.

Even the Emblematic Saguaro Faces an Uncertain Future. Its Survival is Challenged by Extreme Heat, Drought, and Wildfire. Photograph By Victor Ammann

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Gorgeous Images of Earth From Space

— June 19, 2025

These stunning images of Earth taken from space showcase the amazing diversity of texture and color that make up our planet. Taken from a European Space Agency (ESA) satellite, we see the deep reds of the Namib Desert to the iridescent glow of the Ganges River.All of the images are available for high quality download on the ESA website, and make for incredible backgrounds, wallpapers, and more

Namib Desert, Namibia 🇳🇦!

Peruvian Landscape, Peru 🇵🇪!

Scandinavian Snows!

Mississippi River Delta!

Ganges’ Dazzling Delta!

Clearwater Lakes, Canada 🍁🇨🇦!

Plentiful Plankton!

Swirling Cloud Art in the Atlantic Ocean!

Agricultural Crops in Aragon and Catalonia!

Our One and Only Home. We Need To Do Everything We Can To Protect It.

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How The Grateful Dead Built The Internet

— Allegra Rosenberg | Saturday 21 June 2025

Silicon Valley has deep roots in the countercultural movements of the 1960s. The Grateful Dead both united and inspired early tech pioneers. Credit: Getty Images

Before the the internet took over the world, psychedelic rock band The Grateful Dead were among the first – and most influential – forces at the dawn of online communication.

The Grateful Dead weren't just a band. They were a lifestyle. Originally a local blues outfit known as the Warlocks, they soon ascended to the rank of house band for author Ken Kesey's "Acid Tests", and by the late 1960s became a force to be reckoned with on the national touring scene. The Dead, as many call them, helped define San Francisco's characteristic counterculture, fusing folk and Americana influences with Eastern spirituality – as well as forward-thinking experiments with futuristic tools.

But the Dead shaped far more than rock, psychedelia and '60s drug culture. Thanks to a group of music-loving tech enthusiasts, the Dead popularised what some call first real online community. Generations later, the ideas formed in this pioneering digital space still reverberate through our daily lives.

Fans of the Dead, known as "Deadheads", were inspired by the band's embrace of all things technological, from their pioneering sound systems to their immersive multimedia visuals. Many fans were technologists and engineers themselves, working in Silicon Valley or at universities around America with access to early internet technology – which they were using by the late 1970s to swap hot commodities like Grateful Dead setlists and illegal drugs.

In the 1980s, years before the World Wide Web, a virtual online community emerged called the Well (the Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link). Centred on the San Francisco Bay Area of California, the Well not only thrived in its own right, but proved to be one of the most influential factors in the birth of the internet as we know it today. And its long life was in large part thanks to fans of the Grateful Dead.

The Well was borne out of a project started by writer, activists and businessman Steward Brand, who began producing a print publication he called the Whole Earth Catalog in the 1970s. Inspired by the back-to-the-land movement which was seeing thousands of hippies across America start up communes, the Catalog was designed to provide "access to tools" – its slogan – that anyone could use to build their lives around the ecological and spiritual principles of the movement. That meant that alongside the physical tools it offered for sustainable living – like solar stills, looms, and seed kits – it featured an array of books and pamphlets by thinkers – like Buckminster Fuller and Marshall McLuhan – meant to provide insight into how to lead better, more thoughtful lives. The Catalog was enormously influential, and not just on hippies. Apple cofounder Steve Jobs called it "one of the bibles of my generation" in a famous 2005 speech.

The Grateful Dead were pioneers in music, hippie culture and, as it turns out, technology. Credit: Getty Images

"We are as gods and might as well get used to it," the Catalog argued in the introduction to the spring 1969 edition, proposing the Catalog and its offerings as a means to develop an "intimate, personal power" to counteract the top-down, dominant "remotely done power and glory" of impersonal government and big business.

The Catalog proved very popular, selling a million copies by 1972. Larry Brilliant, a doctor and activist who also happened to be the owner of computer company Networking Technologies International, approached Brand with the idea of putting the Catalog online. It was a radical idea at a moment when most people had never even heard of the internet. But Brand saw the potential in giving readers of the Catalog a place to talk to each other. Brilliant provided the money and equipment while Brand helped onboard users and build the community's culture, and in 1985, the Well went online.

The Well was a "bulletin board system" (BBS), an early text-based approach to online communication that long predated the mainstream internet. People could dial into a BBS using a computer and a phone line, where they would send messages and share files. But the Well was more advanced than other BBS's. In the 1980s, these systems typically ran off a single modem, usually in someone's home, and only one person could dial in at a time. Real-time conversation between multiple users was impossible. The Well, operating out of the Whole Earth Catalog's San Francisco office, was among the first to change that. It was professionally run on command-line PicoSpan software, and sported the hardware necessary for multi-user use and conversation – fifty people could be online chatting at the same time. This was a revolutionary experience.

And the Well was very different than purely commercial conferencing services like CompuServe that were around at the time: it was founded with a countercultural ethos at heart, based in the Whole Earth Catalog's do-it-yourself message, and was meant to encourage people from different walks of life to mix and mingle with each other, provoking interesting conversations and social change.

Howard Rheingold was a freelance writer working from home, looking for ways to socialise – and procrastinate. Having been a devoted reader of the Whole Earth Catalog since its first issue, he was early to the Well, signing up soon after it was launched to the public in 1985.

“It Was A Bit of An Eclectic Mix With A Heavy Countercultural Flavour”

— Howard Rheingold

"Writing is a lonely affair," he says. "You're alone there with your typewriter, and your words. Instead of hanging out at a bar or a coffee house, I found that I could log into the Well and have that kind of conversation in between writing things." Rheingold saw the Well as a demonstration of the promise of electronic connectivity. He coined the term "virtual community" to describe the Well in his 1992 book of the same name, Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier. In the book, he observed that "[most] people who have not yet used [networked communication] remain unaware of how profoundly the social, political and scientific experiments under way today via computer networks could change all our lives in the near future".

At its launch, the Well was populated by a diverse group of conversationalists. The canny owners gave free invitations to journalists, computer enthusiasts and other prominent figures in a culture centred on Silicon Valley-style experimentation and forward thinking. The Well emphasised independence and ownership: the login screen told users "You own your own words". Many see it as the first time user-generated content was recognised as the inherent value proposition of an electronic tool.

Deadheads embrace of the Well, an online platform that predated the World Wide Web, was a driving force in the internet's early popularisation. Credit: Getty Images

"It was a bit of an eclectic mix with a heavy countercultural flavour," says Rheingold. One of the recipients of these free invitations was David Gans, a Bay Area musician, DJ and Deadhead who was interested in the idea of finding an online home for the thriving Grateful Dead community. The Well was a perfect fit. Alongside cofounders Bennett Falk and Mary Eisenhart, he spun up the Grateful Dead forum.

Eisenhart, at the time the editor of a Bay Area computer magazine MicroTimes, remembers how Grateful Dead fanzines made her think about connecting members of the fandom. "[The fanzines] would get these heartrending letters from people who thought they were the only Deadheads in their state, but now at least they could connect with other Heads," she says. "I was very drawn to the ability to overcome the barriers of time and space to connect with those you had some actual affinity with."

Before long, the Well's Grateful Dead space exploded in popularity. At $2 an hour to dial in (about $6 or £4.50 today) along with its $8 membership fee ($23 or £17.20 today), the Deadheads devotion to endless discussion of their favourite band helped fund the entire platform.

What was there to talk about? Well, a lot, according to Gans. Not all Grateful Dead fans went "over the wall" to the rest of the Well. Plenty stayed within their bubble, chatting away. The single forum for Deadheads got so unwieldy it had to be split into multiple forums, with separate ones popping up for tours, tickets and tape recordings of live shows, says Gans. There was also the deadlit conference – "conference" being the Well's terminology for an individual, topic-based forum within the larger platform – where users could talk about the Dead's connections to literature, and dissect the poetry of the bands lyricists Robert Hunter and John Perry Barlow.

Barlow himself was a major figure at the intersection of the Grateful Dead and the history of the internet. Raised on a ranch in Wyoming, and introduced to LSD by Timothy Leary himself during college, he ended up falling in with the Dead in the 1970s. He wrote songs for the band before heading back to take over his family ranch, where his distance from the Bay Area contributed to his interest in the burgeoning field of personal computing and online connection.

Gans remembers interviewing him in 1982, a few years before the Well came into being. "He said [of the Deadheads], 'this is a community without a physical location.' And that really stuck with me." Grateful Dead fans already a nationally distributed group which came together regularly at concerts, and through the Dead's sizeable mailing list. In fact, the Well wasn't even Deadhead's first foray into digital communication. According to Gans, one of the first non-technical groups that formed on Arpanet, a precursor to the internet run by universities and the US government, was devoted to discussion of the Grateful Dead. A full embrace of cyberspace was a natural next step.

Barlow wasn't immediately on board, however. Gans recalls his skepticism: "[He said] 'Well, I'm not sure I want to be part of anything where you have to make up a nickname for yourself.'"

But it wasn't long before Barlow embraced the Well, and soon, he came a pioneering force in as the internet launched into the mainstream.

He was the first person to apply Neuromancerauthor William Gibson's term "cyberspace" to the emerging network of computer and telecommunications systems linking people together around the globe. Barlow started referring to cyberspace as an "electronic frontier," drawing on his experiences growing up in Wyoming, in the Mountain West of America. The Well and other similar outposts, like Prodigy and The Source, were akin to the Wild West, writes Barlow, "vast, unmapped, culturally and legally ambiguous [...] hard to get around in, and up for grabs".

Barlow found a home within the Well's community of hackers, free speech enthusiasts and home computing pioneers. He quickly understood the Well's potential as a harbinger for the ways the internet would change the face of human communication forever. On the Well, Barlow engaged in long discussions, often debating with anonymous hackers and "phreaks" – or telephone hackers – about the role that networked communication was to play in the future of humanity.

After some run-ins with clueless law enforcement officers, Barlow recognised a growing need to defend the internet users against the overreach of institutions and governments who would want to control it. In 1990, he founded the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) – an advocacy group that fights for free-speech and other civil rights in the digital world.

"The next thing I know, he's founding the EFF and he's the Lord Mayor of cyberspace!", Gans says. The EFF quickly gained a national profile, and 35 years later, it's still one of the most influential forces in the world of technology policy.

Silicon Valley has deep roots in the countercultural movements of the 1960s. The Grateful Dead both united and inspired early tech pioneers. Credit: Getty Images

For cyberspace denizens who wanted to engage in discussion and collaborate with the people who were shaping the future of virtual communities, the Well was the place to be. Alongside the Well's many Deadheads, members included technology journalists like John Markoff and Steve Levy; entrepreneurs Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist; Steve Case, founder of AOL; homebrew computer enthusiasts like Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak; phone phreakers and hackers; libertarians; hippies; and even the founders of Wired magazine.

"Over the years, we've had people that were retired captains of submarines, we've had journalism professors. Jane Hirschfield, a very famous poet, is a regular, and John Carroll, who was a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, was the host of the media conference for many years," Gans recalls of the diversity of the Well's user base.

Many of these groups got into frequent disagreements. But that was part of the convivial spirit of the Well, says Rheingold. "You don't have a lot of great conversations with people who agree with each other about everything all the time," he points out. "Having some friction can help foster a lot of lively conversation."

At first, geography limited the Well's early users to the area surround its servers in San Francisco. Long-distance users had to pay requisite phone fees to dial in up, until 1990 when the Well was connected with the global internet.

Deadheads early forays into the internet became a model for the ideas, tools and social structures that run our daily lives online to this day. Credit: Getty Images

Though there were never more than 5,000 or so users of the Well at its peak, its coverage and innovators of the day and its starring role in the creation of the EFF gave it an outsized reputation compared to more popular mainstream platforms like CompuServe and Prodigy. "Being on The Well kept me six months ahead of other people about what was actually happening on the internet," said tech executive Jim Rutt in a 2022 interview. It was a vital incubator for ideas and movements in computing, communications and social change.

But as it grew, Well faced some difficulties in governance, as Rheingold recalled, thanks to its libertarian free-speech ethos. "There was no police. It was consensus, which meant that in order to be sanctioned or to even be thrown out for bad behaviour, it required people on the Well to argue about it endlessly. I mean, thousands of posts." Lessons about moderation were learned, such as – for Rheingold – the vital importance of moderators being more like hosts at a party, becoming intensely proactive about what content to allow and promote. "Moderators are filters and sensors," he said, whereas hosts "greet people at the door, introduce them to each other, break up the fights."

As for the Well, it subsequently came under the ownership of a variety of different companies, including Salon magazine, which acquired it in 1999. And it's still around today, home to a slowly dwindling but loyal group of users, many of whom have been on the Well for almost 40 years, says Gans. He reveals that discussions are beginning on how best to archive and sunset the platform at some point in the future, preserving it for future generations to look back on.

Looking back at the history of virtual communities and social media since the Well's heyday, Rheingold reflects on the fact that small, dedicated affinity communities are a dying breed. "Facebook really put a damper on the proliferation of smaller communities of people with a shared interest," he says, in favour of larger platforms full of audiences which could be mined for data and served with advertisements. "Once your community members are the product rather than the customer, you don't have a community," says Eisenhart.

The Well represents a moment in history when, as founder Steward Brand put it in Rheingold's book, "personal computer revolutionaries were the counterculture". Long before the mainstreaming of social media and smartphones, a virtual community was a truly groundbreaking concept.

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These 9 Airplanes Transformed Flight Over The Last Century

On The Anniversary of The Wright Brothers’ Flight, See How Flying Has Evolved Since—And The Otherworldly Models That May Be In Our Future.

— Published: December 15, 2017 | Sunday June 22, 2025

Orville Wright piloted the world’s first flight on December 17, 1903, marking the dawn of air travel. By the 1930s—the most innovative era of flight—dramatic leaps in design and technology paved the way for the modern jet age. While aviation advanced with each new model, the civilian aircraft illustrated below were transformative, pushing boundaries, elevating standards, and opening the skies to the masses: today about 600,000 people are in flight in any given minute. Driven by efforts to reduce aviation’s environmental impact, the next generation of flight may be defined by otherworldly designs. —Kelsey Nowakowski

— Graphic: Álvaro Valiño

— Sources: F. Robert Van Der Linden, Smithsonian Air And Space Museum; Airbus; Boeing

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‘Stop Hiring Humans’ Viral AI Billboard Campaign Sparks Outrage In New York City

— 21 June 2025

An AI Takeover? A Massive Times Square Billboard from Artisan AI urges businesses to “Stop Hiring Humans” -- part of a viral stunt that’s turning Manhattan into a battleground over the future of work. Artisan.co

Meet Ava — Your New AI Sales Rep. Artisan wants companies to interview its digital workers like this one, who’s currently smiling from bus stops across Midtown. J.C. Rice

Artisan AI Co-Founders Sam Stallings, left, and Jaspar Carmichael-Jack faced a wave of backlash after the campaign launched — including thousands of death threats. Artisan.co

A California Billboard Featured A Deliberate Typo — “Stop Hirring Humans.” The viral moment was part of a broader campaign that has helped Artisan generate $5 million in revenue. Artisan.co

Artisan’s Virtual Worker Ava may be the face of the campaign — but the company is still hiring real people, with more than two dozen open jobs posted online. Artisan.co

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Thirty Five Of The Best And Coolest Small Towns In The United States

— May 22, 2025 | By Jordi Lippe-McGraw

Some of the World’s Most Picturesque Small Towns may be found in the United States, each with its unique charms, culture, and history. Small towns are also often a great way to immerse yourself in the larger destination itself (don’t get us wrong, we love big cities, too) because the allure of the small town can range from farmer’s markets, local artisans, charming places to stay, independent restaurants, and wonderful downtown shopping districts. From the stunning natural beauty of Sedona, Arizona, to the colorful houses of Bisbee, Arizona, and the historic gold rush town of Dahlonega, Georgia, a small town suits every taste. Here are our favorite small towns in the USA.

Sedona, Arizona: While Sedona isn’t quite a small town (we’ve been coming here for years for the incredible wellness resorts) you can absorb yourself in Sedona, Arizona’s exceptional natural beauty, including its magnificent red rock formations and thriving spiritual and health community. If you are looking to reset, detox, or destress, Sedona should absolutely be on your must-travel list.

Port Townsend, Washington: This coastal community is home to exquisite Victorian architecture, breathtaking views of the Olympic Mountains, and distinctive dining and shopping options. Visitors can learn about the town’s fascinating history, eat delicious seafood, and peruse unique boutiques. It’s a community that embraces both the distinctive history and culture of the Pacific Northwest and the region’s natural beauty.

Fredericksburg, Texas: Take a trip to the charming Texas Hill Country town of what we think is one of the best small towns in Texas: Fredericksburg. Known for its wineries, there’s also plenty of unique shopping, stunning architecture, and the infamous Enchanted Rock.

St. Augustine, Florida: Notably, the oldest city in the United States, this east coast Florida destination takes travelers back in time to discover the historic town of St. Augustine, founded by the Spanish in 1565, with its beautiful beaches, stunning architecture, and museums.

Eureka Springs, Arkansas: Discover the charming Ozark Mountains town of Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Known for its natural springs, the historic downtown area is also worth a visit to see the well-preserved Victorian buildings that line the streets.

Breaux Bridge, Louisiana: The quaint Cajun hamlet provides mouthwatering Southern cuisine, one-of-a-kind shopping opportunities, and outdoor adventures. Tourists can enjoy everything from crawfish to zydeco music while immersing themselves in the region’s rich history and culture. It is a community that honors the distinctive and dynamic character of Louisiana.

Telluride, Colorado: Most people know this as a big ski/snowboard spot in winter, but visiting during the warmer months, there’s still plenty to see and do. See the splendor of the San Juan Mountains in Telluride, Colorado, a small mountain town known for its year-round outdoor adventures, breathtaking scenery, and active arts scene. With endless miles of hiking trails, waterfalls, scenic views at every turn, fly fishing, golf, an incredible food scene, you’ll need a second trip to fit it all in.

Asheville, North Carolina: Experience the thriving arts community, artisan breweries, and outstanding natural beauty of Asheville, North Carolina, tucked away in the breathtaking Blue Ridge Mountains.

Leavenworth, Washington: Travel to the picturesque Cascade Mountains town of Leavenworth, Washington, with its Bavarian-themed architecture, wineries, and outdoor activities.

Frederica, Delaware: The lovely colonial town of Frederica provides a window into early American history. Historic buildings can be admired, gorgeous gardens can be explored, and interesting dining and shopping options are available. It’s a community that embraces the present while honoring the past.

Galena, Illinois: Take a trip to the charming town of Galena, Illinois located along the Mississippi River, with its 19th-century architecture, historic landmarks, and endless boutique shopping from local artisans. With plenty of festivals, historic sights, and even hot air balloon rides, you’ll find something for everyone here.

Camden, Maine: Relax and enjoy the beautiful coastal town of Camden, Maine, with its stunning views of Penobscot Bay, historic architecture, and delicious seafood. Visit historic High Street featuring early 19th-century homes. Plus, it’s Maine, so you’ll have incredible views abound.

Chatham, Massachusetts: Take in the beauty of Cape Cod in the coastal town of Chatham, Massachusetts, with its beautiful beaches, lighthouses, and historical landmarks. There’s also the incredible Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge where you can see migratory birds, gray seals, and other wildlife.

Deadwood, South Dakota: Experience the history and excitement of the Wild West in the charming town of Deadwood, South Dakota. Travelers will find casinos, mining history, and a downtown strip that will look very familiar (from being featured in several movies and TV shows).

Key West, Florida: Experience the vibrant nightlife and beauty of the southernmost point in the continental U.S. See colorful architecture, beautiful beaches, and historical landmarks. Relaxation is the unofficial pastime of Key West, but you’ll find plenty of water sports, incredible dining and drinking options, and shopping galore.

Park City, Utah: Park City is a mountain town that offers a world-class skiing experience with stunning views of the Wasatch Mountains. But skiing is only one of the many draws to this town, as visitors can also enjoy a bustling arts and culture scene, unique shopping experiences, and delicious local cuisine. It’s the perfect place to combine outdoor adventure with urban amenities.

Mystic, Connecticut: Discover the rich maritime history, famous aquarium, historic landmarks, and unique shopping and dining of the charming coastal town of Mystic, Connecticut.

Moab, Utah: Explore the stunning desert town of Moab, Utah, near several national parks with red rock formations in Arches National Park, outdoor activities including spotting dinosaur tracks, and a popular arts community. Adventure enthusiasts will love Moab for its rafting, UTV tours, and more.

Solvang, California: Experience the unique Danish-themed town of Solvang, California, located in the beautiful Santa Ynez Valley, with wineries, delicious pastries, and unique architecture to visit. Travelers should check out the Elverhøj Museum of History & Art for a deeper understanding of Danish history and the Solvang Vintage Motorcycle Museum where aficionados can revel in early Japanese, American, and European motorcycles.

Bar Harbor, Maine: Indulge in the beauty of Acadia National Park and the coastal town of Bar Harbor, Maine, with stunning views, historic landmarks, and delicious seafood. There is plenty to see and do in the charming Maine town with an abundance of incredible views of the park, mountains, and Frenchman bay.

Breckenridge, Colorado: Enjoy the stunning views of the Tenmile Range and the buzzing arts and culture scene in the small mountain town of Breckenridge, Colorado, with plenty of outdoor activities coupled with a quite charming atmosphere.

Woodstock, New York: Nestled in the picturesque Catskill Mountains, Woodstock is a bohemian town celebrating art, nature, and freedom. It’s the perfect place to escape the hustle and bustle of city life and immerse oneself in a more laid-back and creative atmosphere. Find an abundance of outdoor activities, farmers markets, antiquing, breathtaking views, charming shops, and just a short drive (about 20 minutes) is the famous Phoenicia Diner.

Saugatuck, Michigan: Relax in the picturesque coastal town of Saugatuck, Michigan, with beautiful award-winning beaches, waterways, art galleries, and unique shopping and dining experiences

Bisbee, Arizona: Located in the Mule Mountains, explore the former mining town turned artist community of Bisbee, Arizona. Featuring charming colorful houses, art galleries, historic landmarks, and a vibrant downtown, visitors will have plenty to keep them busy.

Bayfield , Wisconsin: Wisconsin’s smallest city but big on Lake Superior views. Experience the scenic beauty of the Apostle Islands and enjoy water-based activities, orchards, and a charming small-town atmosphere in Bayfield, Wisconsin, on the shore of Lake Superior.

Dahlonega, Georgia: A historic gold rush town located in the foothills of the northern Georgia mountains, with unique shopping, dining, and outdoor activities. Find Amicalola Falls, gold mining tours, and incredible vineyards with wine tasting experiences.

Taos, New Mexico: Bounded by the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, and with a rich history of Native American, Spanish, and frontier cultures, Taos is known for its stunning landscapes, art galleries, and unique architecture.

Kennenbunkport, Maine: Kennebunkport is a quintessential coastal town where the Atlantic Ocean meets historic landmarks and succulent seafood dining options. From the picturesque beaches to the charming streets lined with shops, galleries, and restaurants, visitors can soak in the small-town atmosphere and the rich history of the New England region.

Beaufort, South Carolina: A historic coastal town where antebellum architecture meets Lowcountry cuisine. The town offers a glimpse of the South’s rich past and presents with its charming streets, beautiful gardens, and unique boutiques. Indulge in delicious seafood and other local specialties while soaking in the warm Southern hospitality.

Ridgewood, New Jersey: A charming village located in the NYC suburbs, this picturesque town has a walkable downtown, beautiful parks, and countless award-winning restaurants. There’s also a famed candy story where even adults will once again taste candies they thought were only childhood memories.

Bend, Oregon: Known as a small mountain ski town known for its stunning views of the Cascade Range, outdoor activities, and craft beer and food scene, there’s plenty to do in Bend. From Newberry National Volcanic Monument where visitors can explore a lava cave to multi-use trails, museums, and water activities, your inner child will beam with excitement.

Carmel-By-The-Sea, California: A town of charm and beauty. With its quaint architecture, stunning beaches, and abundant galleries and boutiques, this seaside town is the perfect place to relax and indulge in the California lifestyle. There’s plenty to see and do in this water town. From museums and art galleries to exploring the Carmel village and Mission, to exquisite dining and shopping, travelers can’t wait to get back for another visit.

Mackinac Island, Michigan: Take a step back in time and visit the car-free island of Mackinac, located in the heart of Lake Huron. Admire the stunning views of the lake and the landmarks, such as Fort Mackinac, while riding a horse-drawn carriage or bicycle. The island is a true gem of Michigan, with a unique charm and a slower pace of life.

Stowe, Vermont: A charming New England town in the Green Mountains with a quaint village lined with boutique shops, cozy cafes, and fine dining. Stowe is a great spot for outdoor enthusiasts with excellent skiing, hiking, mountain biking trails and stunning fall foliage views.

Rhinebeck, New York: The small town is known for its historic charm, picturesque Hudson River views, and arts scene. Visitors can enjoy various cultural events, farm-to-table dining, and outdoor activities amidst the town’s beautiful natural surroundings.

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The Cicada’s New Groove! How The Insect’s Infamous Screech Entered The Musical Lexicon.

— Published: June 17, 2024 | By Darren Petrosino | Sunday June 22, 2025

Music Professor and Cicada Whisperer David Rothenberg. Art by Tyler Farmer.

They may begin their life cycles underground before finally catching a big break off their singular sound, but cicadas have never been underground musicians. In the 221 years since the last time 13-year and 17-year cicada broods both emerged in the same year, their music has remained omnipresent without evolving much. Their sole instruments are their tymbals, whose vibrations echo to a fever pitch in their hollow bodies. Since we humans have begun to record cicadas, they’ve become just one of the thousands of instruments in our own repertoire.

Thirteen years into capturing cicada field recordings, David Rothenberg is running out of ideas. The NJIT professor has been bringing his clarinet and ad hoc backing bands out to Magicicada orgies from Tennessee to Illinois since 2011. He’s collaborated with musicians like Pauline Oliveros and throat singer Timothy Hill, and Rothenberg’s then 13-year-old son Umru got his first production credit twiddling with an iPad on “Magicicada Unexpected Road.” Professor Rothenberg fancifully credited the bulk of 2021’s We Emerge, whose meshes of bug noise and atonal clarinet recall Tim Hecker’s gagaku-inspired record Konoyo, to the “Cicada Dream Band” spread between Princeton and Baltimore.

“I’d never use my own samples,” Rothenberg assured me in his office. “My recordings are just 10% processed. The draw of field music is where it comes from – you resist the itch to intervene.”

When cicada drone gets sampled in conventional music, though, it’s for every reason except what it sounds like. We’ve never resisted the itch to co-opt the cicada’s hum into our own metaphorical language. Take your pick between “sad southern summers,” “shedding your old self,” or “sneaking out of your house for just one boozy post-prom.” The actual rhythm kept by a cicada tricks one that their earbud’s on its dying gasps.

Why else would Lorde’s sentimental recordings of New Zealand cicadas get buried under shimmering strata of guitar and backing vocals on “Solar Power”? Why does the insects’ fizz stop before the human vocals on Temples’ sultry psych pop track “Cicada” begin? On the other hand, why else would Atlanta transplant Rick Beato malign the incessant hi-hat on Ariana’s “break up with your girlfriend” as more tymbal than cymbal? People clearly love the idea of the cicada, its onomatopoeic name and symbolism, but the grating noise it makes contradicts the positive messaging.

Rothenberg’s pop science enthusiasm dilutes the inherent eeriness of his field recordings, but sound artists like dave phillips prefer to amplify the cicada’s alien shriek. philips’ Buddha-inspired, hour-long “Cicada Trance” shreds your ears with harsh insect noise while accompanying liner notes linger on how the bug lives purely in the moment. Cicada calls presented unedited are more Ableton than animal, closer to ambulance sirens and jungle breakbeats than forest ambience. Zoom in on one tch-tch-tching Magicicada cassini, and like a lone scarlet pixel in a photograph of a sunset, it’ll derail the whole brood’s mirage of naturalness.

Cicadas (or imitations thereof) work in left-field tunes that permit this strangeness. The title track of English junglist YAANO’s Cicada EP, inspired by his friend’s playthrough of a Japanese horror game, blends claustrophobic grooves with an ominous rising tone that turns neurofunk into Psycho shit. Sega Bodega’s “Cicada” duet with Arca, the centerpiece of the former’s 2021 album Romeo, is an ethereal dancehall cut that more faithfully recreates the bugs’ lusty call-and-response than most pop songs that directly sample them. Arca plays her role perfectly here: she opened her self-titled album with the lyric “Quítame la piel de ayer” (“Take off the skin from yesterday.”)

The best invocations of cicada calls are built off of colonial era misconceptions of them as crop-ravaging locusts, which stretch the bugs from curiously weird to Biblically apocalyptic. It’s not just armageddon messengers like Ethel Cain and Kristin Hayter (fka Lingua Ignota) who each cast the insects into the roles of the locusts on “Family Tree” and “MANY HANDS,” respectively. Listen to how deliberately out of place Brood X’s wraithlike whine sounds at the start of Bob Dylan’s jaunty “Day of the Locusts,” and you might feel what Dylan felt when he accepted an honorary degree from Princeton at the height of the Vietnam War in 1970, on a paranoid high from David Crosby’s spliff. Cicadas rise from below—tunes like these suggest we’re descending in their place.

David Rothenberg awaits the next cicada season with the zeal of a cult leader. He’s chased down dozens of broods, year after year noticing the sense of finality that weighed on his earliest cicada projects softening. Each group of cicadas emerges with a keen awareness that this will be their only chance; the clangor you hear outside your front porch in late spring is the sound of their living here now. But for Rothenberg, there’s always next year. He just can’t help it.

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These Sandhill Cranes Have Adopted A Canada Gosling, And Birders Have Flocked To Watch The Strange Family

Ornithologists And Locals Wonder What The Future Holds For This Chick Being Raised By Much Taller, But Still Doting Parents

— Anne Readel | June 18, 2025

Sandhill Crane and Gosling! A Sandhill Crane Stands Over a Canada Gosling It adopted in Madison, Wisconsin. Such interspecies adoptions appear to have become more common in recent years. Cynthia Carlson

The first time I saw the family, I did a double take. Two tall sandhill crane parents strutted through the marsh, their downy red colt toddling behind them. And then, just a few steps later, came another chick—rounder, fluffier and distinctly yellow. A Canada gosling.

In a small pond in Madison, Wisconsin, a pair of sandhill cranes is raising a baby Canada goose as their own. The combination appears to be only the third confirmed instance of such a cross-species adoption—which was observed previously in Michigan in 2019, and again just last year in Madison. However, an unusual sighting in Alaska in 2011, when a Canada goose was seen living with and behaving like a crane, suggests this kind of adoption may have happened even earlier.

These rare adoptions may be happening more often for several reasons, says Anne Lacy, director of eastern flyway programs at the International Crane Foundation. Sandhill cranes and Canada geese populations have both rebounded in recent decades and, like foxes and coyotes, have proved remarkably adept at moving into urban landscapes. That adaptability has brought them into closer proximity. Geese, which are grazers, can thrive in a wide range of developed spaces, including manicured retention ponds. Cranes, by contrast, are omnivores that still seek out wetlands with more habitat diversity. Suburban wetlands with semi-natural edges—where mowed lawns meet natural vegetation—often offer enough habitat for cranes while still supporting geese, creating an area of ecological overlap. In these shared spaces, the chances for unusual interactions are much higher. At the same time, people are paying closer attention to birds, notes Lacy, and are focusing on this pairing because it’s weird.

Exactly how the gosling ended up with the cranes remains in dispute. Some local photographers believe a Canada goose laid an egg in the cranes’ nest. Others think the cranes took over a goose nest—which already contained a goose egg—after spring floods washed out theirs. Whatever the origin, one thing is certain: When the gosling hatched, it imprinted on the cranes and now follows them as if it were one of their own.

Marjorie Rhine, a local photographer, was one of the first to witness the unusual family. While watching a nesting crane keeping a chick warm beneath its feathers, she was startled when a bright yellow gosling popped out instead of a crane colt. “It’s just hard for your brain to compute. It’s not supposed to be bright yellow,” she says. What struck her most, though, was the way the parent responded. “It just seemed really loving,” she explains.

I watched a similarly surreal and moving scene—a sleek-legged crane doting tenderly on a yellow ball of fluff tucked beside it.

Since then, photographers have captured hours of video footage and thousands of images of the unusual family. Many have watched the cranes treat the gosling just like their own colt: feeding, sheltering and defending it—even from the gosling’s presumed biological parents, a Canada goose pair that have repeatedly tried to reclaim the gosling.

Numerous observers have seen the geese approach the crane family—circling the nest, honking loudly and even charging at the cranes. But when the geese got too close, “Dad was there with his mighty wings,” says Alan Ginsberg, a local photographer who witnessed several such confrontations.

A Sandhill Crane Colt and Canada Gosling nestle against its crane parent in Madison. Alan Ginsberg

Why the cranes accepted the gosling likely comes down to timing and hormones. Michael Ward, an ornithologist at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, has seen just how flexible sandhill cranes can be. He recalls one case where a pair tried to incubate a red rubber ball that had found its way into their nest. And once a chick hatches, the adults are hormonally primed to parent it. “They’re in this maternal or paternal phase, and they’re being protective and supportive,” says Ward.

While the cranes may not care that the gosling waddling after them isn’t biologically theirs, its future is far from certain. Geese and cranes differ in many ways, such as diet, behavior and migration strategies. Cranes feed their young insects, worms and the occasional small mammal. Geese are grazers, built to forage independently. “When I first heard about this last year, I had some real concerns about the gosling,” says Lacy. “They eat very different things.”

I’ve noticed some of their differences when observing them. Instead of nibbling on grass like a typical gosling, this one eagerly slurps down worms offered by its crane parents. The gosling is also a far stronger swimmer than its adoptive parents—zipping circles around them in the water—though it’s clumsier on land as it tries to match the adults’ long-legged stride.

As the gosling matures, migration could present another challenge. “There could be an issue when they become flighted,” Ward says. “Cranes fly higher and migrate at different times of the year than geese do. … By the time it’s got to migrate, something’s going to give.” Cranes often fly at around 5,000 feet—so high they’re often barely visible—while geese typically migrate between 1,000 and 3,000 feet or lower. Their timing also differs: Geese tend to begin migrating in September, if they migrate at all, while cranes from Wisconsin usually depart in October or November—after the first cold snap. Cranes also often travel longer distances to wintering grounds in the southeastern United States, while geese often remain in the Midwest. “It is possible the adopted goose would migrate with the cranes,” Ward says, but “I would expect it would have trouble physiologically.”

A Sandhill Crane Pair takes a stroll with its Colt and adopted Canada Gosling in Madison. Cynthia Carlson

Whether the gosling will make it to adulthood and attempt to migrate remains an open question. While the crane parents are attentive, both of its chicks face risks. The biggest threats to young cranes—and, now, to this gosling—are land-based predators like raccoons, foxes and coyotes, particularly in the early mornings or evenings when the family is out foraging, explains Lacy. Aerial predators like great horned owls are less common, but possible. And snapping turtles, which inhabit the pond, add another threat.

Not all stories like this have happy endings. With the two previously documented adoptions, neither gosling survived. The gosling in Michigan died of unknown causes. The one in Madison last year was killed by a dog. “It was a golden retriever on one of those stretchy leashes, and it got the gosling in its mouth,” recalls Cynthia Carlson, a photographer who documented the 2024 adoption, as well as this year’s. The gosling was taken to a wildlife rescue but died shortly after. “I was so sad that we didn’t get to see how the whole situation ended up,” she says.

Despite the challenges that the gosling faces, local observers still have reasons for hope. Sandhill cranes are known for strong nest site fidelity, often defending the same territory season after season. Ralph Russo, another local photographer who has been photographing the cranes here for a long time, notes the pair at this site have successfully raised multiple offspring over the years. That experience could give both chicks a better-than-average shot, says Lacy. “Nobody likes to see baby animals not make it,” she adds. “But quite honestly, that’s the rule, not the exception.”

Sandhill Cranes!

Ward notes that while a gosling raised by cranes may have a reduced chance of survival, death is far from the only potential outcome. “It’s not like it’s doomed to die,” he says. He also believes the gosling could rejoin its own species, a sentiment that Lacy echoes. “It may just incorporate itself into a gaggle of geese,” she notes.

How this unusual tale will end is uncertain, but Ward hopes people also appreciate the bigger picture. The eastern population of sandhill cranes—which primarily nest in Wisconsin, Michigan and Ontario—has rebounded from fewer than 20,000 birds in 1979 to around 110,000 in 2023 thanks to habitat protection and regulated hunting. Canada geese have experienced a similarly remarkable recovery, increasing from 1.26 million in 1970 to around seven million today. “Fifty years ago, neither species was around here,” Ward explains. “Conservation has brought both of these species back.”

Each time I visit the pond, I find myself lingering longer than planned, watching the family alongside other photographers, birders and curious onlookers. Each visitor may take away something different, but Russo’s words resonate with me: “It reminds me of the pleasure of just being in nature and being surprised by what nature can do,” he says. “It’s been wonderful and joyful and fascinating to witness.”