Afflictor: Thinking the 2012 Baby New Year is representative of the age we live in.
- Old Print Articles: Young Kentucky man reads minds (1891) + “Dead woman” brought back to life (1889).
- Classic Photographs: Tewa Woman Wears Maiden Hairstyle (1922).
- Featured Videos: What’s My Line? featuring Peter Lorre (1960) and Jimmy Carter (1974) + Yoko Ono performance art (1965) + Jacques Cousteau sets up the first manned underwater colony (1964) + Eames films made for IBM (1950s) + Two examples of pioneering computer animation (1970s) + Human-shaped robots work alongside humans + Richard Feynman profile (1973).
- Recently Posted on NYC’s Craigslist: No, I was just on drugs + After 75 years, I just realized that I need to get this creepy shit out of my apartment + Not every co-op board is choosy.
- Dan Lyons boils down Facebook’s business plan.
- Marshall McLuhan explains how media spectators will become participants.
- Bill Wasik considers the past, present and future of the Flash Mob.
- Lisa Pollak explores the most tragic moment of the 2011 MLB season.
- Dylan Trigg’s essay looks at J.G. Ballard’s “Cape Canaveral” stories.
- Ronald Bailey opines on the future of enhanced humans.
- Ethan Gutmann reports from China’s death row human-organ market.
- Read two more of the best 2011 nonfiction pieces for free.
- Damnjan Mitic has built an egg-shaped electric concept car.
- In the 1990s, Biosphere 2 became the domain of crazy ants.
- John Villasenor meditates on our growing digital surveillance state.
- Bettye Danoff was a founding member of the LPGA in 1950.
- Mary Roach investigates the story of a real-life headshrinker.
- Afflictor Nation: Great Britain rules in December.