“I know it when I see it,” Justice Potter Stewart famously wrote in a 1964 Supreme Court case when asked to set legal parameters for “hard-core” pornography. But what do you call it — hard-core, soft-core, whatever you like — when there’s nothing to see? “‘Erotica’ doesn’t sound as fun,” said Caroline Spiegel, a founder…
Sleeping too little may increase the risk for osteoporosis. A study of menopausal women has found that sleeping less than five hours a night is associated with significantly increased low bone mineral density. The report, in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, compared 1,080 women who slept less than five hours with 4,025 who…
In the climactic scene of “Toy Story 3,” Woody, Buzz Lightyear and the rest of the crew narrowly escape death when a remote-controlled claw lifts them from an incinerator just before flames engulf them. Now Burger King is set to enact an alternative ending — collecting, sorting and chopping up hundreds of thousands of tiny…
The AIDS Memorial Quilt, a vast network of patches commemorating the lives of people who have succumbed to illnesses related to the disease, will return to San Francisco, where its first panels were created in 1987. The quilt’s longtime steward, the NAMES Project Foundation, which is headquartered in Atlanta, will announce the move on Wednesday…
This article is part of our November Design special section, which focuses on style, function and form in the workplace. More than ever, pods and podlike chairs are necessary refuges in busy work environments. Today’s open-plan office, where executives might sit shoulder-to-shoulder with underlings, is no longer defined by a desk. Work happens over coffee,…
Good morning. Here’s something worth thinking about as we zoom inexorably toward next week’s feast, toward family and friends, the warmth of the kitchen, the buzz of the dining room: America has been at war for the past 18 years. Next week will mark the 19th Thanksgiving during which service members and civilians have celebrated…
Josephus Melchior Thimister, the Dutch designer who died of suicide last week at age 57, was, the couturier Ralph Rucci said, “the greatest designer of his generation.” Anne Chapelle, the Belgian businesswoman who once backed him, called him “a master.” He had run the house of Balenciaga for five years, started his own couture and…
This article is part of our November Design special section, which focuses on style, function and form in the workplace. The biggest news in the world of co-working has been the turmoil at WeWork. But a quieter development has been happening behind the scenes for some time, and it has to do with design. While…
This article is part of our November Design special section, which focuses on style, function and form in the workplace. Michael Green has seen the future of the building industry, and that future is wood. Lots of wood. The Vancouver-based architect is among the most ardent proponents of what is known as mass timber, prefabricated…
This article is part of our November Design special section, which focuses on style, function and form in the workplace. Lee Bey stood under the rotunda at the James R. Thompson Center, 13 stories of mirror-glass balconies rising around him in tiers, and shiny elevators (now off-limits without official business) zipping up and down. The…