
Baking by Ear
In the mid-20th century, American women were bombarded with tips, tricks, and goods to help them become the perfect housewife. Laura Puaca has studied four records released by General Mills that featured Betty Crocker “talking recipes.” They were developed in response to and in collaboration with blind homemakers and they extended to blind women choices that had long been an option for their non-disabled counterparts.

The Five Senses
Buried in a folio of a 15th century monk’s writing is a poem about the absolutely annoying noise of blacksmiths–not just the pounding of their hammers, but the gnaw and gnash of their voices. Adin Lears explores the noises of early English voices and writing.

Detecting Terrorism
The consecutive terrorist attack on two mosques in Churchchrist, New Zealand was streamed live on Facebook. Within 24 hours, an AI tool was able to delete millions of copies of the footage. Ariel Pinto is working to further develop AI tools that find and delete terrorism online.

Parenting in the Early Years
Decisions about parenting–when to parent, whether to parent–have been in the news a lot lately.

Sidelines of the Mainstream
Climate change, pollution, and development projects are threatening surf breaks all over the world. H. Gelfand (James Madison University) says many surfers have taken up the mantle of environmental activism, becoming outspoken protectors of our oceans.

Put the Phone Down
Whether you’re on foot crossing the street, or behind the wheel — there are a lot of new technologies to be distracted by. Bryan Porter says that we do not recover from looking at our phones as quickly as we think. Is your brain on the road when you are?