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How Silica Gel Took Over the World
Silica gel packets seem like the only thing keeping our packaged food crispy and our belongings free of mildew. How on earth did they all get here?…
Feature
Long-form, original writing on the built environment.
31 posts
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The Honorable Parts.
How industrial photographer Christopher Payne spotlights the good in American labor.…
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Sleeping Beauties
On kelp, soda ash, and long-forgotten scientific principles.…
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Panamaximization
How El Niño affects the Panama canal's operations, and how the its infrastructure may change in the future.…
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The canal that is a lake (and also a reservoir).
How water underpins the Panama Canal's management.…
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A Technological Shortcut
TW Lim on palm oil, the primordial goop of our packaged consumer economy.…
TW Lim
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On Hevea.
How the Brazilian rubber tree made Manaus – and then left it behind.…
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On Naphtha
How naphtha -- one of the first fossil fuel derivatives ever made -- played a key role in the commercialization of rubber.…
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On Vulcanization
On Charles Goodyear and the unlikely discovery of the vulcanization process.…
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On Latex
The geography and logistics of pre-industrial rubber production.…
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Paved Paradises
How Parking Lots Shape Our Cities for the Worse…
