The author of a new book argues that while math can give some pretty cool possibilities, the real-world evidence isn't there. She argues that "there are still plenty of cool ideas, including weather control, faster-than-light communication, and creating new universes, that don’t contradict known science." - Wired
Polshek was the opposite of a starchitect. He "went the other way, embracing a modest approach to architecture that prioritized a design’s social value over its aesthetic worth." He designed buildings like the Santa Fe Opera, the Bill Clinton library and museum, and more. - The New York Times
Volunteers held the line for a decade, but now local government has stepped in to save and shore up the tower in Dublin where Joyce began Ulysses. - Irish Times
The average outdoor concert, powered by diesel generators, "releases 500 metric tons of carbon dioxide—that’s roughly the same as driving 100 gas-powered cars in the U.S. for an entire year." Not so the concerts of Lukas Graham. - Time
Even protest art understood what she meant to Britain. "If you don’t care about something, you don’t need to deface it. In 1977, only one image in British life was sacred enough for the Sex Pistols to defile: the face of the Queen." - The Guardian (UK)
Filmmaker Laura Poitras' All the Beauty and the Bloodshed takes home the top prize, rare for a documentary. "The film examines Goldin’s art, life and her activism in protesting the family and Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, for their roles in the opioid crisis." - The New York Times
"More than 70 stolen antiquities, some more than 2,000 years old, were seized from collections in the U.S. and returned to their native countries of Italy and Egypt this week." And 27 of those were from the Metropolitan Museum of Art - which probably knew these goods were hot. - NPR
From modest beginnings in 1922, the company has grown and blossomed to become one of the preeminent organizations in American opera. - San Francisco Chronicle
There’s a lot of discussion today, including in Congress, about why parts of the web are so toxic and what to do about it—better content moderation? Updated monopoly laws?—but it seems that no one wants to say that the problem is that the web was commercialized in the first place. - The New Republic
Free speech requires a robust exchange of views without the coercion of threats and violence, and self-censorship in response to social pressure is a genuine risk. Yet by definition, there is no free speech if one person is allowed to make an argument and another is not allowed to object to it. - The Atlantic
Several lines of contemporary scholarship emphasize what might be gained by moving from a focus on science education to a focus on reciprocal power-sharing, cooperation, and exchange between researchers and citizens. - Boston Review
This distinction between the messy and the neat, the organic and the planned, helps us understand why London so often dislikes modern buildings. Modern architecture is often plain, clean, formal — it disrupts and diminishes London’s brouhaha of shapes and styles. - The Critic
Daisy Lafarge’s debut novel, Paul, takes a unique approach to an ongoing question: How, in the age of the #MeToo movement, should we interact with the work of men like Paul Gauguin? - The Atlantic
"As the climate becomes more unpredictable, and extreme heat, violent storms and bushfire smoke more common, Australian producers are being forced to grapple with their effects on their casts, crews, audiences and financial bottom line." - ArtsHub (Australia)
Vogt brought people together in many places and on many levels: at his Spannungen festival in Heimbach, Germany, which became a musical home for a generation of musicians and listeners; for children with his Rhapsody in School project; with his two orchestras; and with audiences from the stage. - Van
