World
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Hali Mo, founder of Hali Home Bakes, a San Francisco microbakery specializing in laminated pastries. The essay has been edited for length and clarity.When I graduated from Stanford in 2018 with degrees in economics and computer science, I did what I…
AI has become good at producing polished writing, answering questions, and generating ideas in seconds.But John Nosta, an innovation theorist and founder of the think tank Nostalab, worries the technology could gradually crowd out the rare, original thinking that has historically driven humanity’s biggest breakthroughs.Nosta compares human thinking to a…
Kevin Hart and Shakira at the 2026 World Cup final.Alex Pantling – FIFA/Getty ImagesThe 2026 FIFA World Cup concluded on Sunday in New Jersey, with Spain defeating Argentina.Celebrities, CEOs, and other A-listers were in the audience wearing luxury accessories and watches.Kevin Hart, for example, wore a rare Audemars Piguet watch…
A Walmart Supercenter is a fluorescent palace of American consumption.To US shoppers, it’s a utilitarian one-stop shop where groceries, televisions, tires, and just about everything else sit beneath one enormous roof.To some international World Cup fans, though, it is a viral tourist sensation. Many fans made a point to visit…
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with 33-year-old Andrei Seben Fontana from Tapejara, Brazil. It has been edited for length and clarity.I traveled with my dad, uncle, and cousin to Atlanta, Miami, and New York City for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The super-expensive ticket prices meant we…
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Zach Golden. It has been edited for length and clarity.When the first game of the 2026 World Cup was played, I got everything ready and set up in my living room to watch it. There was no way I was going…
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Christine Casady, a 75-year-old retiree from the US. It has been edited for length and clarity.My husband is an avid traveler, and thanks to that, we’ve been traveling extensively for almost three decades.Ten years before I retired, we started taking longer…
I moved from Los Angeles to San Francisco because of a cold DM on X.I grew up in the LA suburbs, and after attending college there I built my career in journalism across the country, first covering local news, and then crypto. I liked my comfortable life with friends and…
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Fareed Kotb. It has been edited for length and clarity.After photographing two World Cups in Russia and Qatar, I wanted my third to be different.I somehow wanted to connect to the first World Cup in 1930, nearly 100 years ago, and…
Global military budgets in 2025 totaled $2.6 trillion. The US accounted for more than a third of that total.The US has the world’s most expensive military, spending nearly $1 trillion on defense. That’s over three and a half times China’s reported defense budget, the next largest.From spending on nuclear technology…
