"How to Test a Couch for Toxins"
By Gabe Rivin
It began with a smell. Kerri Duntley had just bought a pair of large, cream-colored couches. Pregnant with her third child, she was excited to furnish her new house, a five-bedroom near Charlotte, North Carolina. But she was concerned about something wafting from the couches, which she described as “a strong chemical smell.”
“What Happened to O?”
By Gabe Rivin
William Blake had me thinking about death. I was lying on my couch, Norton Anthology in my lap, when I stumbled on Blake’s poem “The Sick Rose.” I’d read the poem before, and I remembered its famous opening lament: “O Rose, thou art sick!”
“The moving reason these Japanese-American basketball leagues have thousands of players.”
By Gabe Rivin
The cheers grew wilder and more euphoric as Bailey Kurahashi did the seemingly impossible.
Another three-pointer. And another. And another.
She kept launching the basketball through the air, and it kept swishing down through the net. Rapturous fans in the bleachers threw their hands in the air.
“Coal Waste May Cause Carcinogen Spikes in Drinking Water”
By Gabe Rivin
Terry Shelton was on a hunt for clues.
Shelton is the director of environmental services for the city of Eden, in Rockingham County, which draws its drinking water from the Dan River. Up until 2011, the city had had few problems with the health of its drinking water.
"Children in Delhi slums learn software development"
By Gabe Rivin
Michael Merchant wasn’t a traditional college student. In his free time, he says, he eschewed partying and socializing and took on leadership positions in student groups, spending his waking hours trying to make the world a better place.
“Getting Rid of Invasive Species With a Little Electric Shock”
By Gabe Rivin
The problem of invasive species is a slippery one for fisheries managers. One of the most notorious invaders, Asian carp, now dominates large portions of freshwater in the central U.S., and keeping them out of the Great Lakes could cost upward of $18 billion, according to a recent study by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
“Critical Exposure: students focus on reforming schools”
By Gabe Rivin
The photo shows a wall-mounted clock with chunks of glass missing between one and three o’clock.
“This photo depicts a broken clock in a classroom. It shows how time is lost and how simple things are broken, [and how] a simple thing can affect us in such a big way,” the photographer, identified only as Khalid, wrote.
Khalid took the photo as evidence of what needed fixing at his school, Ballou Senior High School.
“How Paleoartists Recreate and Illustrate Dinosaurs”
By Gabe Rivin
We’ve all seen those colorful, life-like illustrations of dinosaurs—T. rex lunging with open jaws, for example, or a giant Brachiosaurus nibbling at prehistoric foliage. But one has to wonder, how accurate are these paintings, really? What mixture of scientific fact and artistic fantasy goes into dinosaur illustrations?
“Fracking Regulators Won’t Create Rules for Air Pollution”
By Gabe Rivin
From now until Sept. 15, North Carolinians will have the chance to raise their concerns about natural gas drilling during a public comment period.
In comments to the state, residents can address a number of draft rules for drilling, including the rules governing hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.”
But residents won’t have a chance to comment on one set of environmental rules that could have a large impact on the public’s health.
Those are the rules that govern air pollution at fracking sites, which, in the case of natural gas drilling, can be both acutely hazardous and carcinogenic.
“Her striking photos of her father capture the struggles and rewards of being a caregiver.”
By Gabe Rivin
In late 2007, Safi Alia Shabaik noticed something strange about her father. “He didn’t have the expressions he used to have,” Safi says. “His face wasn’t as reactive.”
“The People’s Professor”
By Gabe Rivin
On March 28, 1979, catastrophe loomed as Three Mile Island, a nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania, endured a severe meltdown in one of its nuclear reactors. The power plant’s failure released radioactive gases into the air, prompting worries across the region about the public’s exposure to dangerous radiation.
Federal and state officials later concluded that the accident hadn’t harmed residents’ health. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency maintains that residents’ average exposure was about one-sixth that of a chest X-ray.
Yet for Steve Wing, an epidemiologist at UNC-Chapel Hill who studied the issue, the official narrative ignored residents’ concerns.
"Most Students Have No Choice What They Learn. This High School Is Changing That.”
By Gabe Rivin
Powderhouse Studios won’t be like most high schools. It’s not just the 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. schedule or the lack of homework. It’s far more than the school’s banishing of traditional grade levels. What’s perhaps most distinctive is the way it will respond to a central question in education today: Who should control the learning in class?
