7 Stories To Read This Weekend

It was a tough week — I had to whittle down about 50+ stories that I liked into a short list of seven top picks. I really wanted to feature more smaller publications, but didn’t see anything that emerged to the top. I hope next week is going to feature a diverse variety of publications. Here are seven picks, that I think you should read this weekend.

• The Math Revolution: America and Mathematics haven’t been best for friends for a while, but things have changed recently. There is an uptick in the number of American teenagers who are excelling at advanced math. Why? [The Atlantic]
• The Importance of Gravitational Waves: A lot has been written about this most important breakthrough in science. Nothing puts it in context better than MIT President Rafael Reif’s letter to the MIT community. [MIT News]
• An interview with U.S. President Barack Obama about Science and Technology.

It has been the longest week of the year, thanks to my continuing battle with fever brought on by a lingering throat infection. I spent most of my time in bed, doing little more than reading. The upside of all of this: I have some great suggestions for you to read, though I have to admit this week’s mix is a little sports heavy.

• “The Cold War.” Salem, Oregon, is an unlikely spot for one of the tastiest and coolest battles. Now, this is a good way to get your weekend going. [Epic]
• “The Man in the Van.” There are a lot of people who like living in their VW campers. After one of them, Tigers pitcher Daniel Norris, battled cancer and struck up a friendship with photographer Ben Moon, the two traveled across America together. ESPN has published two stories, one about the man in the van, the other about a man dealing with mortality. They are

Whether it was rain, or a flurry of meetings, this week just flew by. My weekly reading suffered and as such I made a selection this week from a shallower pool of goodness. But nevertheless here are seven great pieces to read this weekend:

• An end to parking: How the rise of self driving cars is going to decrease need for car parks and the impact it will have on Urban Landscapes. [Mother Jones]
• The secret deal to merger Yoox and Net-a-Porter: A great piece of investigative reporting and dissecting the  online luxury commerce’s big merger by editor and founder of Business of Fashion, Imran Ahmd. [BOF]
• Boredom is far for boring: At least for scientific community. [Nature]
• What the Gulf of Maine tells us about the future of climate change and future of oceans: A very sobering piece. [Environment 360 Yale]
• The new daughters of Bollywood: Women are taking control