Science & Medicine

How are green technologies being used in construction and architecture? Is there a way to make our homes not only energy efficient and cost-effective but also aesthetically pleasing? Architect and academic Dan Spiegel provides deeper insights on what it means to construct lived environments with a sustainable focus.

Surgery is nothing like you see on TV—what is the modern-day Operating Room like and what innovations are impacting surgical techniques and perspectives? In this interview, Dr. Alexander Langerman of the University of Chicago Hospital elucidates what happens behind the curtain.

Would backwards time travel create multiple “yous”? What does Einstein’s Theory of Relativity teach us about the shape of the universe? Theoretical Physicist David Kaiser of MIT answers these questions, and more, in our inaugural Ask Me Anything post.

Welcome to “Ask Me Anything,” a new Hippo Reads series dedicated to following knowledge to the ends of the Earth. This is your chance to explore everything you’ve ever wanted to know about a particular topic, but never had the chance (or audacity!) to ask. The inaugural Hippo Reads expert is David Kaiser, Theoretical Physicist & Historian of Science, MIT.

What do a physicist, a Victorian, and a civil rights activist have in common? Before they were heroes, saints, and cultural icons, they were deeply flawed human beings.

At the core of the #icebucketchallenge’s mission is the role social media plays in raising awareness and funds for positive causes. But is social media an effective campaign mechanism? Is true awareness really garnered from these efforts or are these dead-end challenges?

Treating the causes of disease requires understanding patients as part of complex systems. In this piece, medical student Laura Christianson explores alternative medicine’s reach—from infertility to cardiovascular disease.