The diamond invention—the creation of the idea that diamonds are rare and valuable, and are essential signs of esteem—is a relatively recent development in the history of the diamond trade. Until the

A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War The Bomber Mafia Malcolm Gladwell’s exploration of how technology and best intentions collide in the heat of war Learn More Buy the

In an adaptation from his upcoming shareholder letter, the Oracle of Omaha explains why equities almost always beat the alternatives over time. Investing is often described as the process of laying out money now in the expectation of receiving more money in the future. At Berkshire Hathaway brk.a we…

The morning was cold and the sky was bright. Aretha Franklin wore a large and interesting hat. Yo-Yo Ma urged his frozen fingers to play the cello, and the Reverend Joseph E. Lowery, a civil-rights co

Opinion Rethinking Sleep SOMETIME in the dark stretch of the night it happens. Perhaps it’s the chime of an incoming text message. Or your iPhone screen lights up to alert you to a new e-mail. Or you

Opinion Eating for Health, Not Weight Credit... Andrea Tsurumi ALMOST half of Americans are on a diet — not surprising, since two-thirds are overweight or obese, a frightening statistic that inspired

New York November 10, 1958 Dear Thom: We had your letter this morning. I will answer it from my point of view and of course Elaine will from hers. First -- if you are in love -- that's a good thing --

There is a woman in the Mekong Delta in southern Vietnam that sells broth-based soups out of a narrow canoe in the busy river markets. She has been doing it for 40+ years — long enough to earn her leg

By Matthew Rudofker At the end of the day, the things that make cooking meaningful to me are taking the time to understand my craft and taking pride in what I do. When I was seventeen and working at S

In 2004, Carolina Izquierdo, an anthropologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, spent several months with the Matsigenka, a tribe of about twelve thousand people who live in the Peruvian

On Monday, Apple offered the first glimpse of iOS 6 during the Worldwide Developers Conference keynote. Though the updated mobile operating system won’t arrive until sometime this fall, it’s never too

In the last half decade, magic—normally deemed entertainment fit only for children and tourists in Las Vegas—has become shockingly respectable in the scientific world. Even I—not exactly renowned as a

At Thumbtack, we make food a priority. It’s amazing what eating does to bring people together. Our team feels like a big family, and this is in large part due to the fact that we share most of our meals: four days a week we eat lunch together around a big table in the center of the office, and once…

The second major category of investments involves assets that will never produce anything, but that are purchased in the buyer’s hope that someone else – who also knows that the assets will be forever unproductive – will pay more for them in the future. Tulips, of all things, briefly became a…

THE REAL DEAL | Americana collector Hitoshi Tsujimoto, founder of high-end workwear brand the Real McCoy's, in his Kobe headquarters among a few of his approximately 100 Warhols. Photograph by Tung Wa

The business practice of brainstorming has been around with us so long that it seems like unadorned common sense: If you want a rash of new ideas, you get a group of people in a room, have them shout

There’s a whole laundry list of disclaimers attached to it, but my pal (and Pulitzer winner) Matt Richtel wrote about a Stanford research report suggesting that spending considerable amounts of time on multimedia/technology can make us unhappy. In his words : “The answer, in the peer-reviewed study…

A collection of articles, insights, provocations and trends on the latest in design, technology, business and culture

Food The Cheat: The Adobo Experiment There are as many recipes for adobo as there are Philippine islands. Credit... Photograph by Zachary Zavislak There are more than 7,100 islands in the Philippines,

Fast Company: The #SOTU Address Is The Ultimate Master Class In Public Speaking http://t.co/sCNGl4M8 via @FastCoLeaders @RuthSherman

09 Nov 11 Steps to Insane Focus: Do More of What Matters Posted at 06:24h in Popular Posts , Productivity , Simplicity , Timeless by “One reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we neve

Craig Ruttle/AP Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, takes a few select potential employees on a hike. You might think a long quiet walk through the woods with Mark Zuckerberg , the founder of Facebo

By Jennifer Valentino-DeVries Aug. 24, 2011 7:05 pm ET This post originally ran on Aug. 24, after Steve Jobs stepped down as CEO of Apple. It has been updated to reflect the news of his death. Steve J

Training in horseback archery in Nikko, Japan. (Photo: David West ) 2008 has been one of the most exciting years of my life. I did more dealmaking and met more people than in the last 5 years combined

brainpicker: From Marina Abramovic to Mark Zuckerberg, stunning portraiture by Martin Schoeller http://j.mp/gjtseK

Ruh-roh. (Photo Credit: We Love Costa Rica ) Following our Paleolithic ancestors, our Neolithic ancestors lost an average of six inches in height. Most people now have those last 5-10 pounds that seem

A Movable Feast: Danny Meyer on a Roll A Day (July 18, 2011) in the Life of Danny Meyer 9 Photos View Slide Show › Gillian Laub for The New York Times Danny Meyer scaled the subway stairs two at a tim

Let me tell you a little about the truck driver you just flipped off because he was passing another truck, and you had to cancel the cruise control and slow down until he completed the pass and moved

A recent Vanity Fair profile of Twitter founder Jack Dorsey ends with an anecdote about an inspiring speech he gave to the assembled staff at his new mobile payments startup, Square . The internal “To