Maria Popova
Creator and Author, "Brain Pickings"
Maria Popova is a reader and a writer, and writes about what she reads on Brain Pickings (brainpickings.org), which is included in the Library of Congress archive of culturally valuable materials. She has also written for The New York Times, Wired UK, and The Atlantic, among others, and is an MIT Fellow. She is on Twitter @brainpicker.
Visual literacy is an essential necessity of modern life. But some of the most widely recognized symbols of visual language are wrapped in a surprising amount of historical and contextual […]
We’ve previously looked at educational tools that help consumers make better choices when it comes to sustainability. Now, a new joint project between the Not For Sale Campaign and International […]
The pipe dream of the paperless office has been around for a while, hoping to mitigate the massive paper waste generated by the corporate world – 1,410 unnecessary pages printed […]
3D printing is easily the biggest design futurism meme of 2010. We’ve previously looked at other approaches to on-demand, DIY, factory-free design objects. Now, NYC-based designer Alissia Melka-Teichroew is applying […]
While online tools for personal finance management like Mint and Outright make it increasingly easier to keep track of our “digital money,” there’s something to be said for the dwindling […]
Democracy is a great concept, but its micro-implementations in matters as petty and mundane as agreeing with coworkers on what music to stream at the office can be a messy […]
Texas-based designer and builder Dan Phillips builds extraordinary low-cost homes out of reclaimed materials. In his witty and insightful talk from TEDxHouston, he showcases a dozen of his remarkable creations […]
Energy efficiency in the home, particularly the notion of the smart grid, has been a concept of increasing interest both by ordinary citizens and large-scale corporations in the energy sector. […]
Are your kitchen cabinets overflowing with tableware you rarely use, only to find yourself in need of an essential missing piece for that dinner party? Eindhoven Design Academy graduate Maaike […]
When the TSA dramatically upped the level of intimacy for airport security scans this month, public outrage ensued, ranging from tongue-in-cheek mashups to grassroots activism. Now, designers are taking their stab […]
We’ve been covering bike-sharing programs quitea bit over the past few months. And now Mexico City is stepping in with what could easily be the most impactful bike-sharing program of […]
In the age of social networking and digital communities, there’s something to be said for analog art of appreciation – of people, of places, of music, of all the other […]
With advances in humanoid robotics making robots capable of increasingly complex functions, it is only a matter of time until they master domains of artistry and virtuoso ability previously considered […]
In the fight to reduce the estimated 50 billion plastic bottles consumed in the US every year, not all reusable bottles are created equal. Newcomer S’well promises a dramatic upgrade […]
The sounds of nature, from bird song to waves crashing to the white noise of grass blowing in the wind, have an indisputably soothing effect on the human psyche. While […]
Every year, millions of girls and women in the developing world miss up to 50 school and work because they are menstruating and lack access to the proper sanitary products, […]
A couple of months ago, we featured the Plumen, a designer CFL light bulb. Now, a new breed of bulb presents more than an aesthetic upgrade. Safer than CFLs and […]
Several weeks ago, we featured OpenIDEO – innovation consultancy IDEO’s collaborative platform for concepting and implementing social-good projects. Open Planet Ideas, a partnership between Sony and WWF, is using IDEO’s […]
Crowdsourcing has become a hotly contested innovation paradigm in recent months, drawing highly polarized opinions. While its creative merit in design has been publicly decried in the recent GAP logogate […]
Ocean pollution has been a topic of increasing concern lately and its devastating aftermath for marine life has been grimly documented. To raise awareness about the issue, Electrolux has introduced […]
3-D printing and rapid prototyping have been among the hottest trends in design innovation this year. But Urbee, a two-passenger hybrid vehicle whose entire body has been generated using a […]
While reusable bottles and tap water filters are by far the best alternative to bottled water, they can be, to use the highly scientific term, a hassle. To address this, […]
While recent advances in software and technology have made remarkable progress in humanoid robotics, one area consistently lagging in comparison to human ability has been the sensitivity of touch. Now, […]
In another nod to biomimicry as a potent source of design and engineering innovation, researchers at Princeton University have developed a new sensor that can change the way drugs and […]
Sustainable farming is a topic of pressing interest and a domain of growing innovation in agriculture, but it’s an incredibly complex issue involving multiple interrelated factors. A new partnership between […]
The anti-plastic crusade of the past few years has focused largely on bottled water, but the beverage market isn’t the only culprit for the plastic bottle epidemic. Replenish aims to […]
We’ve previously featured innovative ways in which designers are addressing the blind with Braille-inspired design. This direction of creativity was validated at the National Design Awards gala last week, when […]
A bike-sharing programs and cycling infrastructure continue to slowly gain traction in cities, it often becomes a matter of making physical room for the two-wheel lifestyle and reclaiming urban space […]
Getting kids to eat their vegetables has been one of the age-old frustrations of modern parenting. While much has been said about causality – from the enormous advertising budgets poured […]
In another nod to biomimicry as a frontier of design innovation, industrial design student Brian Lee has just won Australia’s Target 2020 competition for envisioning the car of the future […]