Culture

From Pussy Riot's smoke flares outside the Russian Pavilion to a cursed palazzo on the Grand Canal—the 2026 Venice Biennale asks whether art can still operate outside geopolitics.

Paramount CEO David Ellison hosted a dinner honoring the Trump White House while seeking federal merger approval. His company is also in talks to acquire a podcast run by a top Trump adviser's wife.

From a 13-year-old amputee skating through Gaza's ruins to 450 accordion players on a Slovenian lake—twelve photographs from May 2026 that refuse easy conclusions.

The Supreme Court has blocked a lower court's attempt to restrict mifepristone for the second time. Justices Thomas and Alito dissented sharply, invoking an 1873 law. The drug is safe until at least 2027 — but what comes next is far from settled.

A year into Trump's second term, Christian nationalist leaders have the White House's ear. But new Pew Research data shows American public opinion has barely moved. What's happening — and why does it matter?

White-nose syndrome has killed up to 99% of bats in infected colonies. New research shows the economic fallout reaches from cornfields to municipal bond markets.

Attiya Waris argues that human rights progress is structurally blocked by the architecture of global finance—tax treaties, debt traps, and offshore systems built for someone else's benefit.

A massive heat reservoir beneath the Pacific has forecasters talking about a 'super El Niño' in 2026. But ocean scientists say the outcome remains genuinely uncertain—and that's exactly why some regions need to act now.

The MV Hondius hantavirus outbreak isn't the real story. The real story is how media fear-framing is obscuring the slow collapse of the global public health system designed to protect us.

Palantir Technologies took its name from J.R.R. Tolkien's all-seeing magical stones. The choice reveals more about Silicon Valley's self-mythology than any press release ever could.

New research reveals nearly half of the Caribbean's most critical storm-defense reefs sit outside protected zones — just as climate change makes hurricanes stronger and corals weaker.

Officials insist hantavirus requires 'prolonged close contact' to spread. But a meticulously documented 2018 Argentine outbreak and accounts from the MV Hondius suggest the virus travels through the air. Sound familiar?