The first dot-com boom set the stage for a lot of the world we experience today. IPOs and insane valuations, tech companies without an obvious business model, the vague aroma of scams, all of it centered on Silicon Valley. Two crashes later, most of the big players are dead, merged, or dismembered. Yet some of the ideas—massive online social networks, web browsers as a software platform—have come to pass. So how did we get from the first boom to here?

Out in the vast coldness of outer space, there are planets that travel alone through darkness without the boundaries of a system. Here’s how this can happen – and why these frozen deserts might secretly harbor alien life.

The UAE continues to push back the unveiling of the world’s most expensive painting. 'Salvator Mundi' by da Vinci was originally purchased for $450,312,500 by Saudi Arabia's Minister of Culture in 2017, but many art historians believe that it isn't actually an original da Vinci painting. Art critic Jerry Saltz tells us why it isn't.

From his basement lab in Boulder, Colorado, physicist Jun Ye and his team have built the world’s most precise atomic clock. The clock is so powerful it can measure otherwise imperceptible changes in the physical world.

The last thing you want to experience during an evening out is a scam. Knowing these sneaky tricks is a step closer to saving cash and feeling good about what you're eating. Here are some sneaky ways restaurants commonly scam their customers...

China is testing a new plan to urge its citizens to do more good and be more trustworthy - the Social Credit System. It’s kind of like the American credit score, except it tracks far more than financial transactions. It tracks good — and bad — deeds.

When truck driver Teri Horton bought a painting for $5, she didn’t dream it could be an original Jackson Pollock. This film follows her journey to discover the truth.

When it comes to repair, farmers have always been self reliant. But the modernization of tractors and other farm equipment over the past few decades has left most farmers in the dust thanks to diagnostic software that large manufacturers hold a monopoly over.

A new documentary explores the “city of the future” that was meant to provide a blueprint for urban centers across America. By Lorraine Boissoneault.

Age discrimination can be very hard to prove.In a ProPublica feature that collected the stories of over 1,400 former IBM employees, it was estimated that a staggering 20,000 American employees ages 40 and over have been eliminated by the company. How does one of the country’s largest tech giants quietly push out this many older workers? Don’t we have laws to protect people at the end of their careers?

Nestle, the world’s largest food and beverage company, bottles Michigan’s water for next to nothing and sells it at great profit. And the state has just approved its request to pump even more, despite the failed promise of jobs and 80,000 public comments against Nestle. Meanwhile, just two hours away, Flint still doesn't have clean water. AJ+'s Dena Takruri meets those who have a stake in this fight, including local environmentalists, a tribal citizen, ordinary residents and a Nestle spokeswoman.

Back in the 1990s, Portugal faced a heroin crisis. Most people knew someone affected by the lethal drug. Just two decades later, the country has one of the lowest drug-related death rates in the world. This dramatic turnaround isn't credited to a hard-line approach, but instead by decriminalizing all drugs.

Explains how Bitcoin works for general audiences without skipping the key technical insight. Covers money, value, gold, blockchain & proof of work.

The former chef turned writer and TV host exposed the underbelly of restaurant culture and took viewers on far-flung culinary adventures with biting wit and a worldly outlook.

The Bamboo Union is the largest of Taiwan’s three main criminal triads, a gang estimated to have about 10,000 members who deal in illegal gambling, drug trafficking, and beyond. It’s a powerful and, at times, brutal organization—if one of its members betrays the gang, it can cost them a limb.

Guns kill more than 30,000 Americans every year, far more than in any other developed country. While lawmakers and activists battle it out over legislative solutions, some are trying a different approach: integrating smart technology into guns. In this episode of "The Spark," Bloomberg follows 21-year-old inventor and entrepreneur Kai Kloepfer, who's created a "smart" handgun that could save thousands of lives.

The Parker Solar Probe is going to go closer to the sun than any spacecraft has come before. It will take seven years to fly 93 million miles to reach the sun’s corona, its outermost atmosphere. The probe will withstand temperatures up to 2,500º F as it gathers data about how energy and heat travel through the corona and what’s up with solar wind. We meet the engineer whose work on the heat shield will protect the probe from being burnt to a crisp as it makes history.

Welcome to Aotearoa, the land of the long white cloud. In a particularly pastoral section of the North Island lives the De Jong family. The youngest of whom formed the band “Alien Weaponry” back when they were 8 and 10 years old. Their blend of metal, traditional Maori language, history, and a long-standing beef with the system just debuted as number one on the music charts in New Zealand.

A lock of Walt Whitman’s hair, Jack Kerouac’s boots, and Virginia Woolf’s cane are just a few of the items of literary paraphernalia available at the New York Public Library's Berg Collection—if you have an appointment.

A new documentary looks at Montana's fight against dark money in politics. By Bob Garfield with director Kimberly Reed.

Deutsche Welle Documentary

Andrei Nekrasov [Trailer free, full film paywalled]

Nudibranchs may look cute, squishy and defenseless ... but watch out. These brightly-colored sea slugs aren't above stealing weapons from their prey.

Meet Whang Od. She lives in the Philippines and is the last master of the art of traditional, hand-tapped Filipino tattoos.

Big gulp! The Nautilus team spotted a gulper eel (Eurypharynx pelecanoides) doing just that in Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. Its pouch-like mouth can inflate in an instant, scooping up much larger prey just like a pelican--and giving it that muppet-like look! This gulper eel was likely a juvenile, as this species can grow up to three feet in length.

Death Metal Grandma follows the story of 96 year old Holocaust survivor, former WW2 spy and famous songwriter Inge Ginsberg as she decides to pursue a new career: Death Metal.

The documentary, which followed the mayoral candidates throughout their campaigns, is looking to raise $55,000 by Jan. 31.

Joshua Harris wrote I Kissed Dating Goodbye when he was 21 years old. It became the bible of the evangelical purity movement, which promotes putting off sex until marriage. His ideas have changed.

A documentary called Ai Pioppi, released by Fabrica and written by Luiz Romero, documents the incredible story of Bruno, an Italian restauranteur who, in his spare time, is hand-building an entire amusement park in the woods.

Angelo Merendino, a New York-based photographer, says the photo essay of his wife Jennifer's battle with breast cancer is an attempt to "humanize the face of cancer."

I remember fragments of the story of SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau's killing in 2010 - something about a ponytail, something about her slipping and falling, something about how this almost never ever happens because in these parks, the animals are happy and the trainers are safe.