Not every workplace features a guillotine. At a book conservation lab tucked beneath the first floor of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the office guillotine might as well be a water cooler or a file cabinet for all that it fazes the staff. “We have a lot of violent equipment,” said Mindell Dubansky, who heads…
In the early days of the Covid pandemic, a team of scientists called on the World Health Organization to acknowledge that the disease could spread through the air. Initially, the agency rebuffed them, despite growing evidence that coronavirus-laden droplets stuck around in the air, making indoor spaces hotbeds of infection. The researchers responded with a…
“Is he clean, or does he have a girlfriend?” That’s the question Lizzie Kane asked herself while on a fourth date at the home of a man she was seeing. After finishing a filet mignon dinner he had prepared, she excused herself to his bathroom, where she was met with a mix of niche, luxury…
This past October, I found myself in Yoshida Village standing before a tatara, a giant open-top furnace that was filled with charcoal and raging with such controlled ferocity that it could have been a set piece in Lucifer’s bedroom. Deep within the belly of those orange flames sat a growing and mangled ingot that contained…
This past October, I found myself in Yoshida Village standing before a tatara, a giant open-top furnace that was filled with charcoal and raging with such controlled ferocity that it could have been a set piece in Lucifer’s bedroom. Deep within the belly of those orange flames sat a growing and mangled ingot that contained…
“To be perfectly honest with you, I needed a few Americans to tell me what it means to win this award,” said David Fischer, the founder of the company Highsnobiety. Mr. Fischer was sitting in an airport in Spain, wearing a denim jacket and a designer baseball cap. About 10 days earlier, in New York…
Navigating the health care system in the United States can often feel like being lost in a maze. What kind of doctor should I see? Who takes my insurance? What even is a co-pay, anyway? For that reason, Chris Hamby, an investigative reporter, has devoted much of his five-year career at The New York Times…
Consumers have grown accustomed to the prospect that their personal data, such as email addresses, social contacts, browsing history and genetic ancestry, are being collected and often resold by the apps and the digital services they use. With the advent of consumer neurotechnologies, the data being collected is becoming ever more intimate. One headband serves…
To prepare for these terrifying but rare onboard crises, new flight attendants on all commercial carriers must undergo four to six weeks of training. Additional one- to two-day training, primarily focused on safety, recurs annually. It varies from airline to airline. We recently visited Alaska in Seattle to learn about flight attendant training, which includes…
Two truths: Fashion has long been enamored by the “ugly shoe.” Balenciaga made chunky dad sneakers; Gucci offered fur-lined loafers; and Schiaparelli introduced anatomical boots that look more like they belong in a surrealism exhibition than on someone’s feet. But fashion is also obsessed with collaborations. In recent years, casual shoe brands like Birkenstock and…