Discover
Technology has a habit of hiding interesting ideas in plain sight. Here are a few worth a closer look.
26 stories to explore
The map cannot keep every promise
Flattening a globe forces choices about shape, area and scale.
Two simple motions, one intricate drawing
A horizontal oscillation and a vertical oscillation can draw loops that neither contains alone.
Why the background turns into circles
A point of light becomes a patch when its rays meet before or beyond the sensor.
Patterns that appear where waves meet
Two simple sources can produce stripes that belong to neither source alone.
Why the same journey can feel different
An animation’s endpoints and duration leave a great deal of room for choosing its motion.
The picture that survives a close look
A shape description can be drawn again. A fixed pixel grid can only offer what it already recorded.
A mirror is a surprisingly strict storyteller
The apparent world behind the glass follows a precise geometric rule.
An image that loses width without simply shrinking
Removing selected paths of pixels can preserve a subject, or quietly damage what the algorithm fails to value.