Pocket Future

Pocket-Worthy Reads

Stories to fuel your mind

Atlas Obscura

Decoding the Design of In-Flight Seat Belts

Why we buckle up differently in cars and planes.

How to Thrift Shop Your Way to Victory

One veteran inveterate thrifter shares his secrets for bin-digging, rack-rifling success.

Greater Good Magazine

Five Ways to Keep Your Brain Healthy as You Age

Sanjay Gupta argues that making healthy lifestyle choices can stave off cognitive decline at any age.

Bloomberg

Gamers Are Turning PCs Into Fantasy Worlds of Their Own

Not just a gray box that hides under the desk anymore, many gaming PCs are designed and modified to be shown off.

Mental Floss

“This Land Is Your Land”: The Story Behind America’s Best-Known Protest Song

It has been a staple of kindergarten classrooms for decades. But Woody Guthrie didn’t intend for the song to be a ringing endorsement of American exceptionalism—he wrote it for those who were getting left behind.

Knowable Magazine

The Psychopathic Path to Success

Research is reframing psychopathic tendencies, an often sensationalized and maligned set of traits, and finding some positive twists.

Smithsonian Magazine

Why Do Dogs Wag Their Tails? Scientists Examine the Endearing Behavior

Dogs communicate through tail-wagging, and humans may have selected for the trait during domestication.

Popular Science

4 New Myths About Climate Change—and How to Debunk Them

Pushing off climate change policy isn’t that far removed from denying its existence.

The Guardian

Barter, Bid and Bag a Bargain! Vintage Experts on 21 Ways to Buy Secondhand Treasures

Get up early, decide on your budget and never say: ‘What’s your best offer?’ Here’s how to find affordable antiques like a true professional.

Literary Hub

The 45 Best Prison Escape Movies, Ranked

We’ve got chases and escapes, from POW camps, maximum security prisons, and chain gangs.

The Guardian

Vegetables Are Losing Their Nutrients. Can the Decline Be Reversed?

A process called biofortification puts nutrients directly into seeds and could reduce global hunger, but it’s not a magic bullet.

Kiplinger

5 Financial Red Flags in Relationships

Financial warning signs are crucial to building a secure future with your partner.

Popular Collections

Curated guides to the best reads on the web

Pocket Collections

The Art of Navigating Thorny Office Politics

From bad bosses to gossipy colleagues and, of course, office refrigerator drama.

Today’s Pocket Hits

Saturday, August 9

The Guardian

Knife Throwing and Cheeseburger Spinning: The Agony and Ecstasy of Being a Viral Trickshot Video Star

Think you could throw a basketball off a 540ft dam, into a hoop – while blindfolded? Meet the talented and ludicrously patient people putting hours into the internet’s most joyful (and pointless) clips.

Atavist

The Talented Mr. Bruseaux

He made his name in Chicago investigating race riots, solving crimes, and exposing corruption. But America’s first Black private detective was hiding secrets of his own.

The Associated Press

The World Nearly Beat Polio. But Fake Records, an Imperfect Vaccine and Missteps Aided Its Comeback.

The World Health Organization has closed in on its bold goal of eradicating polio several times, but the paralytic virus is entrenched in parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Saveur

That Chewy, Bouncy Texture You Love Has a Name

Whether in boba tea, cuttlefish, rice noodles, or cassava dough, the texture of QQ connects people across cultures and generations.

Lifehacker

Are ‘Ultra-Processed’ Foods Really That Bad for You?

They’ve been linked to heart disease and other health conditions.

The New Yorker

The Internet Wants to Check Your I.D.

New safety rules require users to verify their identities before gaining access to sites. This spells the end of the relative anonymity that we’ve come to expect online.

The Hollywood Reporter

Last Call for Late Night

After 70 years of tucking America into bed, it looks like the curtain is about to come down on the late night genre. What’s being lost is more than a TV tradition but a backdrop for some of America’s most memorable moments.

Condé Nast Traveler

16 Golden Rules That Business Travelers Swear By

People who constantly hit the road for work share what they wish they’d known from the jump.

I Tried the $160,000 Recovery Chamber That Pro Athletes Swear By

An editor tries the $160,000 Ammortal Chamber for recovery. Here’s her honest review.

Condé Nast Traveler

Airline Tech Meltdowns Are Happening More Often—Here’s What Fliers Should Do

As United Airlines recovers from an internal tech outage, here’s a reminder of your passenger rights during mass flight delays.

CBS News

Filmmakers, San Francisco Japantown Museum Reflect on 80-Years Since First Atomic Bomb

This summer, the NJAHS resurrected an exhibit from 30 years ago to remember the victims of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs that the United States dropped on Japan on Aug. 6 and 9, 1945.

Inc. Magazine

What Drives Fast Growth Year After Year? New Research Has Some Answers

Here are the bold strategies that keep companies on the Inc. 5000 list.

BBC

The Radical Film Flop That Changed Disney Forever

Disney Animation’s ambitious and innovative 1985 film The Black Cauldron was an experiment that dramatically failed, arguably putting the future of the studio in question.

The Atlantic

Six Books That Explain How Flying Really Works

The fact that we regularly float six or seven miles above the Earth is worth our fascination and attention.

ESPN

Pawol ‘Ready to Go’ Ahead of Breaking MLB Umpire Barrier

Jen Pawol will make her major league debut this weekend, becoming the first female umpire in a century and a half of big league baseball.

Smithsonian Magazine

How One Chihuahua Proved to Be a Link to the Ancient Dogs That Moved to Latin America With the Spread of Agriculture

New research shows that ancient dogs did not join Indigenous people in Central and South America until farming became popular—especially of maize

Axios

These AI Experts Are Getting Offered Boatloads of Cash by Zuckerberg

Zuckerberg has offered massive compensation packages to AI experts as though they’re NBA stars.

Real Simple

10 Summer Flowers That Peak in Late August

Add these bold and beautiful blooms to your garden now to brighten up any boring spots for the late summer and fall. Try common favorites like hydrangea, sunflowers, and echinacea, or unique choices like lisianthus and balloon flowers.

Popular Mechanics

A Company Says It Can Predict Your Baby’s IQ Before Birth. But Where’s the Science?

The company released white paper that details how it’ll be able to screen embryos for the likelihood of 17 different diseases. But it only mentioned its IQ predictions on social media.