Opinion – cringe is unavoidable, let’s embrace it
Post-pandemic, we’ve entered the era of total surrender, ferality, and delusion. As we continue exchanging societal norms with unapologetic liberation, why not throw abandoning our feelings of embarrassment into the mix? Is it me, or does a new personality shift seem to be rearing its head almost every week...
Current in Culture
Has the pandemic made us more aggressive?
Comedians, public workers, and university tutors have been reporting more aggressive and socially stunted behaviours since we returned to ‘normal’ life. Has the pandemic dented our ability to communicate effectively and appropriately? It seems some of us may have forgotten how to behave in public after multiple years of...
Opinion – Britney’s pregnancy marks happy end to tragic story
Spears’ pregnancy announcement was welcome news. It also marked the end of her 13-year-long conservatorship, which forbid her from having more children. Sadly, Britney’s story of fertility control is not uncommon. When the ‘Free Britney’ movement emerged with a vengeance in 2019, many were quick to slander members as conspiracy...
New AI DALL-E 2 creates images from text prompts
A new AI system can create a variety of images both realistic and surreal from natural language descriptions. It has the potential to be game changing, but not without some concerns. Algorithms and AI continue to make waves across the art industry. The latest breakthrough comes from a research team...
El Salvador president reveals designs for volcanic ‘Bitcoin City’
El Salvador president Nayib Bukele is quite literally obsessed with cryptocurrency. This week, he caused big stir online with tweets showing intricate designs of a full blown Bitcoin city. One does not merely dabble in cryptocurrency. Once you’re in these days, you’re all in. El Salvador president Nayib Bukele is the...
How the pandemic changed our outlook on workplace design
Luring us back into the office was never going to be easy, so architects are finding ways to make modern workspaces virtually irresistible. After spending months working from the comforts of our own homes (and beds) we’ve all been armed with fresh expectations for what office spaces should look and...
Netflix’s editorial division hit with layoffs
Four months ago, the streaming service ‘aggressively’ recruited a small army of journalists – primarily women and people of colour – to run its new fan site, Tudum. This week, it abruptly axed a significant portion of those hires. After posting disastrous results for its March quarter – the loss of 200,000 subscribers after having only seen sustained growth since 2011 – Netflix has reportedly laid off...
Opinion – why Julia Fox is the perfect celebrity throwback
From being relatively unknown to becoming a household name in just a few weeks, let’s explore why Julia Fox is the celebrity Hollywood has been missing. As we jump from one global crisis and (unwillingly) right into the next, it can feel like the only collective source of mindless escapism we have left is celebrity culture. When all is wrong in the world, the glitz and glamour of award show season...
What’s it like to live with synesthesia?
Do you associate certain colours with numbers and letters, or see time as a colourful shape? You might have synesthesia – one of the most weird and wonderful neurological conditions. When I was in my late teens, I asked my mother how she ‘saw a year’. In hindsight, this sounds rather bizarre, but at the time I was convinced I was asking a straightforward question. My mother’s bemused expression answered it...
Students build solar greenhouse that produces energy
Traditional greenhouses typically use a ton of energy to work properly, but students in Catalonia have built a solar powered structure that creates energy rather than consuming it. Who says greenhouses can’t adapt to modern energy needs? First built in the nineteenth century, greenhouses are a nifty way to grow plants and produce our own flowers, but they usually use lots of energy to function. Students in Barcelona have created a solution...
