Society

A collage featuring the text "Forgotten Hardships," with images of distressed people, a graph with a declining trend, and various historical imagery in red and black tones.

Life was dirty, difficult, and dangerous for almost everyone who ever existed

9 minutes of cruel history may cure the anti-progress delusion.

Jason Crawford

Global Development

A new vision for the advancement of humanity

The world needs a moral defense of progress based in humanism and agency.

Jason Crawford

A person holds up a cardboard sign with the message "psychedelics are not a crime" in a crowded room.

Drugs

Psychedelic drugs and the law: What’s next?

The push to legalize magic mushrooms, MDMA, LSD, and other hallucinogens is likely to heighten tensions between state and federal law.

Ben Seal | Knowable Magazine

Criminal Justice

3D police lineups could reduce wrongful convictions

A new type of police lineup uses 3D technology to let eyewitnesses view suspects from any angle, and could reduce wrongful convictions.

Teresa Carey

Activism

GoFundMe to help people leave Afghanistan raises $6 million

A GoFundMe campaign has raised millions of dollars to help people leave Afghanistan in the wake of a Taliban takeover.

Kristin Houser

Female Leaders

The plea to save the Afghan girls robotics team from the Taliban

A human rights lawyer is trying to get the Afghan girls robotics team evacuated to Canada so its members can avoid living under Taliban rule.

Kristin Houser

Public Health

This bacteria can find a landmine

Bacteria that glow in the presence of a landmine may one day help save lives.

B. David Zarley

Activism

Gardners and prisoners collaborate to create art

As a multidisciplinary artist and activist is creating "solitary gardens" in a collaborative effort between people in solitary confinement and volunteers on the "outside."

Teresa Carey

Fixing Justice

It’s not enough to remove "bad apples" from police forces

Police use of force complaints would not dramatically decrease if “bad apples” were fired early in their careers, Princeton and UPenn researchers predict.

Kristin Houser

Urban Living

Is it time for America to bring back the boarding house?

A revival of the boarding house — popular in the 1800s, banned by modern zoning — could help solve America’s affordable housing woes.

Kristin Houser

Fixing Justice

The CEO of Axon on building safer weapons

05:50

In partnership with Axon

After a tragic loss, Rick Smith wanted to find a way to help end gun violence, and in 1993 he brought the TASER device to the market. 30 years later, he believes they’re closer than ever to “making the bullet obsolete...”

Jack Berning

Series| Ramen Profitable

He built an app to send postcards to prison

6:14

In partnership with Million Stories

Flikshop is on a mission to make it as easy as possible to send postcards to prison. Founded by a formerly incarcerated individual, the company is keeping families connected to help reduce recidivism.

Jack Berning

Fixing Justice

Minnesota stops separating newborns and incarcerated mothers

The Healthy Start Act makes Minnesota the first state to stop the practice of separating incarcerated mothers from their newborns soon after delivery.

Kristin Houser

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