The New Yorker-Science & Technology

"What are dreams for?  Plus:  A journey across Antarctica."

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Russ Roberts (https://hawaiisciencejournal.blogspot.com).

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We’re taking a break from our regular programming to bring you a collection of recent and classic science and technology stories. Happy reading!

Essential Reading

Annals of Health Care

What Big Medicine Can Learn from the Cheesecake Factory

From 2012: Restaurant chains have managed to combine quality control, cost control, and innovation. Can health care? By Atul Gawande  Annals of Technology

Can the Internet Be Archived?

From 2015: The Web dwells in a never-ending present. The Wayback Machine aims to preserve its past. By Jill Lepore  Annals of Technology

China’s Selfie Obsession

From 2017: Meitu’s apps are changing what it means to be beautiful in the most populous country on earth. By Jiayang Fan  A Reporter at Large

The White Darkness

From 2018: At fifty-five, Henry Worsley began a solitary trek across Antarctica. It became a singular test of character. By David Grann  Elements

What Are Dreams For?

From 2023: Converging lines of research suggest that we might be misunderstanding something we do every night of our lives. By Amanda Gefter  Annals of Technology

The Secrets of Microsoft’s Partnership with OpenAI

From 2023: The companies had honed a protocol for releasing artificial intelligence ambitiously but safely. Then OpenAI’s board exploded all their carefully laid plans. By Charles Duhigg  Under Review

Plant Intelligence and the Messiness of Scientific Change

In “The Light Eaters,” by Zoë Schlanger, the field of botany itself functions as a character—one in the process of undergoing a potentially radical transformation. By Rachel Riederer  Annals of Medicine

Will a Full-Body MRI Scan Help You or Hurt You?

Companies like Prenuvo and Ezra will use magnetic resonance imaging to reveal what’s inside you—for a price. By Dhruv Khullar If you know someone who would enjoy Science & Technology, please share it. Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up. Cartoon by Bruce Eric Kaplan P.S. Bill Erquitt was a collector of Civil War relics: Confederate belt buckles, swords, guns, uniforms, battle flags—some of significant worth. After his death, one flag in particular—handsewn, seized by a Union soldier, and carried on the Northern Army’s march to the sea—was discovered to have been stolen, in the nineteen-eighties, from the Atlanta Historical Society, where Erquitt had worked until his rushed resignation in 1992. Charles Bethea reports on the man and the many mysteries of his memorabilia.

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