Collection · 16 hand-picked recommendations
The Stuff Our Modern World Runs On
My favourite nerdy subgenre: the in-depth profile of materials, systems and infrastructure our modern world depends on.
Seeing like a spreadsheet
A brief history of instant coffee
The death rays that guard life
Why randomized controlled trials matter and the procedures that strengthen them
The text file that runs the internet
The Secret, Magical Life Of Lithium
The Barcode Engineered Its Own Downfall
The discovery of copper
Concrete Built The Modern World. Now It’s Destroying It.
Where Does All the Cardboard Come From? I Had to Know.
The Race to Produce Green Steel
The Huge Endeavor to Produce a Tiny Microchip
How GPS works
We Made Plastic. We Depend on It. Now We’re Drowning in It.
The world is running out of sand
Great links like these, every Friday in your inbox
36 links
Bingeworthy Podcasts
42 links
Making Sense of the Climate Crisis
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Making Sense of Artificial Intelligence
29 links
The Art of Thinking (Differently)
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Work Smarter
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How Technology is Reshaping Our Humanity
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Hidden Wonders
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All-time Favourites
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The Stuff Our Modern World Runs On
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Stories, too good to put down
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On Friendship and Connection