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.
Childbirth may be the miracle of life, but its practical reality is grounded in a set of rather utilitarian necessities that ensure the mother and baby’s health and survival. While […]
What happens when an artist loses his or her creative currency – the capacity for self-expression? That’s exactly what happened to legendary Los Angeles graffiti artist Tony Quan, a.k.a. Tempt […]
Over the past decade, Creative Commons has been the most important link between creativity and copyright law, championing a new breed of licenses that use the law to propel, rather […]
A few weeks ago, we looked at how designers were revolutionizing sight for the vision-impaired. Today, we focus on another kind of sensory disability — can design make deaf people […]
In March, Sunlight Labs announced Design for America — a 10-week design and data visualization contest aiming to connect the creative community with the increasing amounts of public data produced […]
As media and communication technology continue to evolve, the question on everyone’s minds is how do we harness this innovation and its capacity to improve lives, foster social good and […]
In the age of greenwashing and eco-everything, it’s becoming increasingly hard to standardize and fairly assess what constitutes a green product. The USDA has attempted to do this for food […]
There’s hardly a feat of industrial design more emblematic of consumerism than the vending machine. But while vending machines may perpetuate a number of social ills – from conspiculous consumption […]
Today, we’re doing something a bit different. Instead of focusing on a specific design-for-good product or idea, let’s focus on why it’s important to talk about these products and ideas […]
Over the past couple of years, marine sustainability has risen to the top of the environmental movement's concerns. But in a supply/demand market economy, our seafood choices as consumers have a significant impact on the issue. So how can design help consumers make smarter, more sustainable seafood choices?
How connecting cutting-edge technologies with the people who need them the most is revolutionizing the traditional aid model and empowering communities to take charge of their own well-being.
The Braille system is one of design's most ingenious feats. Today, designers are using it to bring more ease and joy into the lives of blind people in everything from mundanity to playtime.
How designers are revolutionizing product packaging, one of consumerism's most toxic and wasteful byproducts, by using smart engineering and innovative materials to dramatically lighten its carbon footprint.
A team of the print world's brightest innovators set out to write, photograph, illustrate, design, edit, and ship a magazine in just two days.
How designers are revolutionizing corrective eyewear with low-cost, durable, beautifully designed glasses for the developing world, where lack of access to vision healthcare presents an obstacle to anything from basic safety to education