An ugly, empty future that never quite happened – touring the abandoned college campuses of Second Life. Did anyone really think these were going to work?
The privatisation of cities' public spaces is escalating. Academic geographer and gonzo urbanist Bradley L Garrett discusses ‘Pops’ – privately owned public spaces – and asks who our cities are really for.
Exploring sci-fi's most iconic sound effects, from vrrrramp to snikt.
Shops are beginning to experiment with genderless fashion. Makes sense. Weird to think that it isn't already a thing. (And hats off to Selfridges for the Agender name.)
Melted down lead ballast from Roman shipwrecks is used to shield dark matter detectors, because modern lead is still slightly radioactive. Archaeologists aren't too happy about this.
Going straight to the top of my Christmas list: HR Giger's Alien Diaries.
On greebles and kitbashing – how recycled bits of tank and digger models make the ships of Star Wars look real. And then those are turned into models, and bits of those get used to make other models. And then those kits are plundered. And so forth. Basically, all spaceships are collages of past and future.
Blood, string, x-rays … you never know what you’re going to find in your records these days. And forget vinyl – the medium of the future is tortilla.
What is concrete? Where did it come from? What does it want?
A reservoir filled with 96m shade balls to conserve water in drought-hit LA. An incredible sight. I want to play in it.
That is all.