2026-10-18 -- control

#1 · longform Sep 8, 2026

Read a primer on Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced founder of biotech startup Theranos who was sentenced to prison for defrauding investors.

Elizabeth Holmes is arguably one of the best-known scammers in business history.

The Stanford dropout and founder of blood-testing startup Theranos was once hailed as a prodigy of sorts, celebrated by magazines like Forbes and Fortune, as well as the startup community at large, for becoming the youngest self-made female billionaire.
However, a 2015 Wall Street Journal Investigation revealed that Theranos's core technology didn't work as claimed.
Theranos founder and CEO Holmes and her business and romantic partner, Sunny Balwani, were sentenced to federal prison for criminal fraud charges in 2022.

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#2 · longform Sep 30, 2026

Elizabeth Holmes is among the many tech founders who famously dropped out of college, leading to a podcast series called 'The Dropout,' exploring her formation.

Holmes dropped out of Stanford to start Theranos, the blood testing startup that later proved fraudulent.

The award-winning podcast series went on to inspire the Hulu docuseries of the same name, starring actress Amanda Seyfried.
Early episodes of the investigative podcast series dive into Elizabeth Holmes' younger years before heading to Stanford.

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#3 · longform Sep 30, 2026

Elizabeth Holmes has publicly spoken about the 'hell and torture' of prison since she began serving time.

Following a nearly four-month trial in 2022, the Theranos founder was found guilty of fraud and sentenced to roughly 11 years in prison.

However, Holmes maintains that she is innocent and wants to continue working on her blood-testing technology upon being released from prison.
The former CEO no longer speaks in the low baritone voice she adopted while running Theranos.
Holmes gave birth to her second child with partner Billy Evans three months before she reported to federal prison.

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#4 · explainers Oct 13, 2026

Silicon Valley's reign over tech, money, and politics

Tesla and X CEO Elon Musk, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, and others are getting into politics. From Musk's role in President Trump's second term to Hoffman's spending on former Vice President Harris' presidential campaign, more tech CEOs are expanding into politics. This podcast episode by WBUR and American Public Media discusses what the impact could be with so many tech figures engaging in American politics. Listen here.

itk Elon Musk is the single biggest known donor in the 2025-26 US election cycle. own · sim 0.52 · keep 0.12 · score -2

#5 · curiosity Oct 9, 2026

The Apollo 11 mission was saved minutes before the moon landing by software developed by Margaret Hamilton—NASA's first software engineer.

Hamilton interacted with a computer for the first time in graduate school in 1959, where she helped develop software to support research in chaos theory.

Hamilton began writing software at MIT for the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment project—the US's first computerized air defense system—in 1961.
In 1965, Hamilton joined NASA, where she led the teams that built onboard flight software for both the command and lunar modules and coined the term "software engineering."
To minimize risks to Apollo astronauts, Hamilton's team engineered priority-driven software for the Apollo Guidance Computer, allowing high-priority tasks to interrupt low-priority ones and to notify astronauts of critical issues.
During the Apollo 11 moon landing, the Apollo Guidance Computer's fail-safe software enabled a successful mission after an issue with a hardware switch overloaded the system's resources.
Hamilton was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016, 47 years after the Apollo 11 moon landing, for "writing the code that helped America set foot on the moon."

itk Computing pioneer Margaret Hamilton, whose fail-safe saved Apollo 11 and who led the devel sibling · sim 0.77 · keep 0.80 · score -1

#6 · curiosity Oct 9, 2026

Over 107,000 mirrors reflected moonlight into a 1.4-square-mile portrait of Margaret Hamilton on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission.

The portrait of NASA's first software engineer, who led the development of the Apollo program's onboard flight software, was created at the Ivanpah Solar Facility in the Mojave Desert.

itk Computing pioneer Margaret Hamilton, whose fail-safe saved Apollo 11 and who led the devel sibling · sim 0.60 · keep 0.73 · score -2

#7 · experiences Mar 26, 2026

Reimagining YouTube as cable TV, complete with channel-surfing

The site streams YouTube content as if it were broadcast television, providing the ability to flip through channels and enter videos mid-stream, and you also can't easily skip ahead. The product is designed in part to bring back serendipity to video discovery.

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#8 · curiosity Sep 17, 2026

Spotify's success turned Swedish entrepreneur Daniel Ek into a billionaire in his mid-30s.

Ek and his cofounder Martin Lorentzon envisioned Spotify as a legal version of Napster.

Securing licensing deals with major labels like Universal Music, Sony, and Warner Music gave Spotify access to a broad music catalog.
Its freemium model, offering both a free tier supported by ads and a paid ad-free tier, helped attract early adopters.
Customers loved the convenience of streaming songs rather than paying per download from services like iTunes.
At first exclusive to desktops, Spotify launched mobile apps for iOS and Android devices in 2009.
Rapid growth followed Spotify’s mobile expansion; the service had around 1 million users at the start of 2009, which grew to around 7 million by the end of that year.
Spotify entered the US in 2011, which helped its global user base expand to 20 million by 2012.

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#9 · curiosity Feb 6, 2026

Cats began cozying up to humans around 10,000 years ago

The feline family is a hugely diverse group of lions, panthers, and kitties that have spread all over the world. The ancestors of the cats we love today helped solve rodent problems when humans first invented agriculture. They've been worshipped, loved, and scorned by humans since.

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#10 · curiosity Sep 30, 2026

Elizabeth Holmes' partner Billy Evans has raised millions of dollars for a new biotech startup during Holmes' time in prison.

The name of the company is "Haemanthus," which means "blood flower" in Greek.

Haemanthus intends to use AI to debut a biotech product that will conduct medical tests.
Holmes, the founder of the failed blood-testing startup Theranos, has been giving advice to Evans from prison.
In a March 2018 settlement, separate from the criminal fraud charges she'd later serve prison time for, the SEC banned Holmes from serving as an officer or director of any public company for a decade.
She has said that she plans to return to her career in biotech upon her release from prison.
Holmes is the mother of Evans' two young children.

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#11 · curiosity Sep 30, 2026

Elizabeth Holmes imitated Apple founder Steve Jobs, even going so far as to dress like him, making his signature black turtleneck her uniform.

Other personality quirks she displayed as CEO of biotech startup Theranos included speaking in a seemingly fake voice many octaves deeper than her natural one.

She was known to tell people that her dog, Balto, was actually a wolf.
Holmes also claimed she only needed to sleep four hours per night.

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#12 · longform Sep 30, 2026

Listen to a comparison between former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes' real voice and her fake, deep one.

Elizabeth Holmes may have begun lowering her voice to sound more authoritative when she became a rare female CEO in the male-dominated field of biotech.

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#13 · explainers May 21, 2026

SpaceX's S-1 or 'prospectus' revealed many previously unknown details about the company, including its unprofitability despite doing $18.7B in revenue in 2025, exactly how many voting shares Elon Musk will have in the company (roughly 85%), and more.

SpaceX, Elon Musk's space company, filed its S-1 on May 20, 2026, in preparation for its IPO.

A prospectus is a document that companies typically must file with the Securities and Exchange Commission in order to go public.
A deeper look at SpaceX's prospectus reveals its lofty ambitions, including its desire to "harness the sun to power a truth-seeking artificial intelligence."

itk Elon Musk is the single biggest known donor in the 2025-26 US election cycle. sibling · sim 0.45 · keep 0.09 · score -7

#14 · curiosity Apr 23, 2026

See a list of all of Elon Musk's known children as of April 2026

Although it's possible that these numbers could be larger than the public realizes, as of April 2026, it was believed that Elon Musk had fathered 14 children with four different women. While he has six children with his ex-wife Justine Musk, he has three with the musician Grimes, including a son named X Æ A-12.

itk Elon Musk is the single biggest known donor in the 2025-26 US election cycle. sibling · sim 0.42 · keep 0.33 · score -16

#15 · curiosity Feb 11, 2026

Former Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett is among the world's most generous philanthropists, having given away more than $68B.

That's about 32% of Buffett's total net wealth.

Jeff Bezos' ex-wife, Mackenzie Scott, is also famously generous, having given away almost half of the $30B she received in her divorce from the Amazon founder.
Mark Zuckerberg has also donated a significant amount of money in his lifetime—more than $6B.

itk Elon Musk is the single biggest known donor in the 2025-26 US election cycle. own · sim 0.42 · keep 0.36 · score -17

#16 · experiences Sep 2, 2024

YouTube brought endless content—and endless culture wars

How did YouTube grow from a startup in 2005, to a media powerhouse with more than 2.5 billion monthly logged-in users who watch more than 1 billion hours of video every day? That’s what this podcast interview with Bloomberg tech reporter Mark Bergen on NPR’s Fresh Air explores.

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#17 · news-in-context Sep 17, 2026

Read a user's review of the differences between Spotify and its closest rival, Apple Music.

When it comes to digital music streaming services, Spotify and Apple Music have solidified their place as the #1 and #2 services, respectively, based on their number of users.

Spotify’s closest rival in the US is Apple Music, which reportedly had more than 93 million paying users as of January 2025.
Spotify had about 300 million paying subscribers as of August 2026.

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#18 · longform Sep 30, 2026

Read the 2015 investigative piece that first surfaced failures in Theranos' technology.

The Wall Street Journal investigation revealed that Theranos' "Edison" blood testing machines could not actually test for many of the diseases Theranos claimed it could with a single pinprick of blood.

The story, written by journalist John Carreyrou, revealed that less than 10% of Theranos blood tests were actually conducted using the Edison machines it claimed were revolutionary.
Some blood samples sent to Theranos' labs were watered down, then tested using a German blood-testing machine.
Blood draws were done in Walgreens stores through a partnership with the corporate pharmacy, leading to patient harm.
For instance, a patient who went into a Walgreens store for a Theranos blood test was once misdiagnosed with HIV. Another was informed that she had a miscarriage when that was not actually the case.
Carreyrou's piece also detailed the story of Ian Gibbons, a biochemist working at Theranos who died by suicide after telling his wife that "nothing was working" at the blood testing company.

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#19 · curiosity Sep 30, 2026

Theranos investors including Rupert Murdoch and the DeVos family lost tens of millions of dollars when the company failed.

Former Theranos employees Tyler Schultz and Erika Cheung were whistleblowers who helped reveal the company's fraudulent nature.

Tyler Schultz is the grandson of George Schultz, the former US Secretary of State who served on Theranos' board.
Tyler Schultz reported the fraud happening at Theranos to the authorities in 2014 using a fake name.
Federal regulators shut down the company's lab in 2016, saying it jeopardized patient health and safety.
Specifically, US Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and her family and Wall Street Journal owner Rupert Murdoch each lost more than $100M.

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#20 · longform Oct 13, 2026

Watch the trailer for Nathan Fielder's documentary about Elizabeth Holmes, 'You Can See Everything.'

The documentary follows Holmes over the 34 days leading up to her entering federal prison in 2023.

Fielder moved in with Holmes and her partner, Billy Evans, during the documentary's recording.
The project was kept secret for years, until it debuted at the Telluride Film Festival in 2026.
The documentary debuted with a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

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#21 · explainers Feb 24, 2025

13 things Medicare gives you for free

Even people on Medicare, the US government health insurance program for people 65 and older, have to pay for their own co-pays and prescription drug costs. But other services, like alcohol counseling and colorectal screenings, may be free for Medicare recipients. To learn about 11 more things that are free with Medicare, scroll through this list.

itk Millions of seniors are now receiving $90 payments from the Trump administration; it says own · sim 0.48 · keep 0.65 · score -2

#22 · curiosity Mar 31, 2026

The story of two female programmers running the simulations behind chaos theory's discovery

Margaret Hamilton and Ellen Fetter worked on MIT's 800-pound Royal McBee LGP-30 computer, which was fed binary code on paper tape to perform computations. Among the computations performed were those involving equations describing the motion of gas in a circulating fluid for Edward Lorenz, widely considered the father of chaos theory.

itk Computing pioneer Margaret Hamilton, whose fail-safe saved Apollo 11 and who led the devel sibling · sim 0.51 · keep 0.52 · score -3

#23 · curiosity Feb 24, 2026

Grace Hopper was inspired to join the armed forces after the attack on Pearl Harbor

Despite being too old to enlist and weighing below the required minimum to serve, Hopper was granted an exemption and assigned to work on the first electromechanical computer produced in the US. She and her team spent three months using the device to solve equations needed to design the implosion mechanism for the atomic bomb.

itk Computing pioneer Margaret Hamilton, whose fail-safe saved Apollo 11 and who led the devel own · sim 0.45 · keep 0.72 · score -4

#24 · experiences Sep 17, 2026

Read about how Spotify creates niche genres, from 'Webcore' to 'Phonk.'

One of Spotify's most recognizable features is its playlists.

The provider offers an endless stream of strangely titled mixes with names like "Hyperpop" and "Lorem," which suggest uniform genres and scenes despite featuring seemingly random assortments of artists and songs.
By organizing its music in this way, some argue that the process erases organic movements that developed outside of the app.

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#25 · explainers Dec 31, 2025

Viral pop artists create systems of participation, not just music

Musicologist (and Swift expert) Paula Clare Harper weighs in on the factors that make music go viral. Tracks designed for shareability that feed well into content algorithms on streaming platforms are able to grow in popularity, with traditional human gatekeepers sidelined.

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#26 · curiosity Sep 30, 2026

Theranos and Pets.com are among the most well-known startup failures in business history.

Theranos was Elizabeth Holmes’s one-time blood testing company that landed the founder in prison for more than a decade after she was charged with fraud.

Pets.com—an e-commerce pet supply webpage—is a prime example of dot-com companies burning through investments.
Despite being a popular and well-known brand, Pets.com struggled to generate enough revenue to become profitable.
After raising approximately $82.5M in its February 2000 initial public offering, Pets.com filed for bankruptcy in November of that same year.

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#27 · curiosity Apr 17, 2026

Dating app Bumble Founder Whitney Wolfe Herd is considered the youngest self-made female billionaire.

Whitney Wolfe Herd founded dating app Bumble in her 20s after cofounding Tinder.

She has said that she was inspired to create Bumble partly due to an experience she had with female friends who made fun of her for making the first move with a man.
Wolfe Herd also became the youngest female CEO to ever take a company public with Bumble's 2021 IPO.

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#28 · longform Sep 30, 2026

Former Theranos employees claim the startup had cult-like qualities, including suppression of dissent, sleep deprivation, and surveillance.

The corporate culture at Theranos has been described as sharing similarities to high-control groups like cults.

For instance, former Theranos employees have said that the culture intentionally discouraged questions and criticism, punishing employees who pushed back.
This podcast episode details the answer to a key question about the failed biotech startup: Was Theranos actually a cult?

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#29 · explainers Apr 13, 2026

Elon Musk reshaped Twitter into X with bold moves and polarizing decisions

What began in early 2022 as Musk quietly buying Twitter shares soon escalated into a $44 billion hostile bid to take the company private. When Musk officially took over Twitter, he walked into headquarters carrying a literal kitchen sink, captioning the moment, "Let that sink in."

itk Elon Musk is the single biggest known donor in the 2025-26 US election cycle. sibling · sim 0.44 · keep 0.26 · score -9

#30 · curiosity Feb 24, 2026

Grace Hopper was named the 1959 Time magazine 'Woman of the Year'

The honor was part of the 2019 series "100 Women of the Year," which spotlighted an influential woman for each of the years the publication had previously awarded a "Man of the Year." In its write-up, Hopper was described as having "paved the way for women everywhere to thrive in math, computer science, and service to their countries."

itk Computing pioneer Margaret Hamilton, whose fail-safe saved Apollo 11 and who led the devel sibling · sim 0.44 · keep 0.34 · score -5

#31 · curiosity Feb 24, 2026

Grace Hopper won the Data Processing Management Association's 'Man of the Year' award

The inaugural recipient of the award—symbolic of the male-dominated nature of computer science—was honored in 1969 for her contributions to the development of COBOL and the first compiler. Hopper would also become the first woman from any country and the first American to be recognized as a Distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society.

itk Computing pioneer Margaret Hamilton, whose fail-safe saved Apollo 11 and who led the devel sibling · sim 0.44 · keep 0.46 · score -6

#32 · curiosity Sep 30, 2026

Absurd, romantic texts between former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes and her partner Sunny Balwani are now a meme.

In one text message to Balwani, Holmes wrote, "you are the breeze in desert for me. My water. And ocean. Meant to be only together tiger.” Balwani replied, “OK.”

Balwani was about 20 years older than Holmes. The pair met when Holmes was 18 and Balwani was 37.
Holmes has accused Balwani of psychological and physical abuse, allegations that Balwani has denied.

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#33 · curiosity Mar 13, 2026

Three AI startup founders broke the record for the youngest self-made billionaire previously set by Mark Zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg became the youngest self-made billionaire in 2006 at 23 years old when Facebook held its initial public offering. In January of 2026, three AI startup founders—Brendan Foody, Adarsh Hiremath, and Surya Midha—broke Zuckerberg's record and became billionaires at 22 years old.

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#34 · longform Jul 2, 2019

In the 1870s, a woman from Boston ran a Ponzi scheme disguised as a bank by women, for women that promised 8% interest.

Sarah Howe collected $500K—equivalent to about $13M today—primarily from single and elderly women who were overlooked by traditional banks through the “Ladies’ Deposit Company.”

After standing trial, Howe was only convicted of soliciting money through false pretenses, as she had falsely claimed the bank was being supported by a Quaker venture.
Howe was caught in a similar scheme again after she got out of jail, but then returned to her original career as a fortune teller.

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#35 · explainers Mar 18, 2026

The creation of the parks often involved displacing Native tribes

Early parks like Yellowstone, Glacier, and Yosemite involved the removal of tribal communities like the Shoshone, Crow, and Nez Percé, undermining the popular narrative that parks preserved an uninhabited wilderness.

itk Arizona's Chiricahua National Monument is on track to become the next US national park. own · sim 0.41 · keep 0.48 · score -2

#36 · curiosity Feb 24, 2026

Grace Hopper warned against prioritizing hardware purchases in future computing

Foreseeing the rising volume of data and the increasing demand for its processing and access, she advocated that organizations first map the total flow of information they require and then choose infrastructure to support it, rather than wastefully spending on the fastest computing technology and forcing software to compensate for unnecessary hardware or incorrect data.

itk Computing pioneer Margaret Hamilton, whose fail-safe saved Apollo 11 and who led the devel own · sim 0.43 · keep 0.63 · score -7

#37 · curiosity Aug 17, 2026

Lego's Women of NASA set honors four NASA pioneers: computer scientist Margaret Hamilton, astronaut Sally Ride, astronaut Mae Jemison, and astronomer Nancy Grace Roman.

The Lego Women of NASA set was submitted to the Lego Ideas Competition by science writer Maia Weinstock and was selected over 11 other projects, each of which received over 10,000 votes from supporters.

Mae Jemison was the first African-American woman in space, and Nancy Grace Roman played a foundational role in developing the Hubble Space Telescope as NASA's chief of astronomy.
Margaret Hamilton led the development of the flight software for the Apollo program and Sally Ride was the first US woman in space.
The original design of Lego's Women of NASA set included Katherine Johnson, who performed calculations for the orbits of NASA spaceflights, but the rights to her likeness could not be secured.

itk Computing pioneer Margaret Hamilton, whose fail-safe saved Apollo 11 and who led the devel sibling · sim 0.43 · keep 0.50 · score -8

#38 · curiosity Feb 13, 2025

How Martha Stewart became the first self-made billionaire woman

Through her cooking shows, cookware, and media empire, Martha Stewart ascended to billionaire status in 1999, becoming America's first woman to achieve that number on her own. Despite a conviction in 2004 and time spent in prison, Stewart rebounded and continues to develop product lines and media, with an estimated net worth of $200M. Read more about her story here.

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#39 · longform Oct 1, 2026

Famous scammer Anna Delvey lied about having a $67M trust fund

Delvey conned New York City's elite with her lies, saying that she was a German heiress and defrauding the city's banks, restaurants, and more out of more than $275K in just 10 months. Her story was even turned into a Netflix series while she was in prison.

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#40 · longform Sep 8, 2026

Read about why America is obsessed with the stories of financial scammers.

Some suggest the obsession stems from how these stories expose the thin line between those who manipulate and those who are manipulated.

Notable cases like fake heiress Anna Delvey, Fyre Festival creator Billy McFarland, and startup fraudster Elizabeth Holmes, who deceived their way to success, captivate our culture.
These tales of deception are subjects of books, documentaries, films, and TV series, like "Inventing Anna," reflecting our fascination with both the perpetrators and victims.

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#41 · explainers May 29, 2025

Why donors love to give to the wealthy schools

In this podcast episode of Revisionist History, Malcolm Gladwell explores why Hank Rowan’s $100 million gift to a small New Jersey college didn’t inspire others to support underfunded schools. Instead, donors continue to flock to elite institutions like Harvard and Stanford. “My Little Hundred Million” examines ways ideology and prestige have reshaped educational giving.

itk Elon Musk is the single biggest known donor in the 2025-26 US election cycle. own · sim 0.40 · keep 0.46 · score -20

#42 · curiosity Feb 24, 2026

Grace Hopper described serving in the US Navy as the highest award she received

Despite retiring from the US Naval Reserve in 1966 at 60, as stipulated by Navy regulations, Hopper was repeatedly recalled for her pioneering expertise in computer science. By 1983, three years before her final retirement, she would give lectures about 200 days a year to computer scientists at military bases, college campuses, and businesses on behalf of the Navy.

itk Computing pioneer Margaret Hamilton, whose fail-safe saved Apollo 11 and who led the devel sibling · sim 0.42 · keep 0.68 · score -9

#43 · curiosity May 20, 2025

Faulty wiring and flammable materials caused a fire in the Apollo 1 command module

During a launch rehearsal test on Jan. 27, 1967, the fire took the lives of astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee. The tragedy led to improvements to CM construction and the development of a single-piece hatch for escapes.

itk Computing pioneer Margaret Hamilton, whose fail-safe saved Apollo 11 and who led the devel sibling · sim 0.41 · keep 0.26 · score -10

#44 · explainers Oct 9, 2026

See Medicare vs. Medicaid explained in 60 seconds in this 1440 Original video.

Medicare and Medicaid both provide government-funded healthcare, but Medicare covers those 65 and over and Medicaid is geared toward those with low incomes.

Medicaid, funded by federal and state governments, supports low-income individuals, with eligibility varying by state.
Medicare has several main parts that provide older Americans with coverage and support: hospital stays, outpatient care, and prescription coverage. Part C of Medicare, the fourth part of the program, enables private health insurers to provide benefits.
Medicare and Medicaid were both established in 1965 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Social Security Amendments of 1965 into law.
Both programs have expanded over the decades to widen their eligibility to more groups.
Medicaid originally offered medical insurance to people receiving cash assistance, whereas the modern program supports groups including: low-income families, pregnant women, people with disabilities, and people who need long-term care.

itk Millions of seniors are now receiving $90 payments from the Trump administration; it says sibling · sim 0.47 · keep 0.69 · score -3

#45 · curiosity May 20, 2025

NASA purchased about 60% of all integrated circuits from 1961 to 1965

The US government adopted the new technology to support the development of the Apollo Guidance Computer, which would help astronauts fly to the moon. This drove manufacturing up and costs down, setting the stage for the modern computing era.

itk Computing pioneer Margaret Hamilton, whose fail-safe saved Apollo 11 and who led the devel sibling · sim 0.40 · keep 0.50 · score -12

#46 · news-in-context Sep 22, 2026

The ten largest individual donors gave more than $1.2B during the 2024 election cycle.

The largest individual contributor during the 2024 election cycle was Elon Musk, who donated $291M to campaigns and organizations.

Eight of the top 10 donors during the cycle had a Republican political lean.
The largest individual donor with a Democratic political lean was Michael Bloomberg, who donated $64M during the cycle.

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#47 · explainers Mar 9, 2026

Concierge services are one of the top medical costs retirees fail to factor into their planning

One of the unexpected medical costs retirees are facing is thousands of dollars a year for concierge care membership fees. A typical annual fee can average $3,500. Concierge care is an option that's particularly popular among older adults with more complex health needs and in some areas of the country doctors are increasingly turning away Medicare patients and only accepting new patients willing to pay annual fees for concierge medicine.

itk Millions of seniors are now receiving $90 payments from the Trump administration; it says own · sim 0.43 · keep 0.42 · score -4

#48 · news-in-context Feb 17, 2026

States have stepped in to keep national parks open during shutdowns

National parks typically close during federal shutdowns, but in 2023, Arizona and Utah planned to use state funds to keep parks open—highlighting how shutdowns can disrupt tourism and local economies.

itk Arizona's Chiricahua National Monument is on track to become the next US national park. any_band · sim 0.43 · keep 0.07 · score -1

#49 · experiences Apr 2, 2026

Relive the Apollo 11 moon landing minute by minute

This interactive project lets you experience Apollo 11 in real time—listening to exchanges between the astronauts and NASA's Mission Control as they guided humanity's first journey to the lunar surface and safely home.

itk Computing pioneer Margaret Hamilton, whose fail-safe saved Apollo 11 and who led the devel any_band · sim 0.41 · keep 0.78 · score -11

#50 · explainers May 18, 2026

Trump's 2025 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act' expanded access to health savings accounts

After the "One Big Beautiful Bill" took effect, Medicare users with bronze or catastrophic level health plans, as well as certain medical care membership models and telehealth users, became eligible for HSAs. Supporters of HSAs say expanding access to this savings program is more effective in alleviating high consumer costs than subsidizing healthcare plans or direct treatments.

itk Millions of seniors are now receiving $90 payments from the Trump administration; it says sibling · sim 0.42 · keep 0.10 · score -5

#51 · news-in-context May 29, 2026

Nonstop posting by Elon Musk provides calculated political and brand messaging

For a week in August 2024, Musk posted 650 times, including reactions to far-right influencers; promotion of his AI tool, Grok; and support for controversial political takes. He livestreamed himself playing Diablo IV for hours during that same week.

itk Elon Musk is the single biggest known donor in the 2025-26 US election cycle. any_band · sim 0.52 · keep 0.13 · score -3

#52 · news-in-context Jan 27, 2026

On this day in 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act, creating a social safety net that now covers more than 70 million Americans.

That amounts to nearly 90% of people aged 65 and older being enrolled in Social Security.

The federal government spent $1.5T on Social Security in fiscal year 2025—nearly a quarter of the total federal budget.

itk Millions of seniors are now receiving $90 payments from the Trump administration; it says any_band · sim 0.52 · keep 0.18 · score -1

#53 · explainers Apr 22, 2026

Some tribes push for national parks to be under Indigenous control

Ojibwe author and academic David Treuer talks about his push for 80 million acres of American national park land to be returned to Indigenous stewards. Treuer proposes the government grant control of this land to a consortium of tribes, which would maintain and manage it for use by all Americans.

itk Arizona's Chiricahua National Monument is on track to become the next US national park. own · sim 0.41 · keep 0.32 · score -4

#54 · explainers Jan 27, 2026

Social Security is one of the most popular government programs

In a recent Pew Research Center survey of US adults, 79% said Social Security benefits shouldn't be reduced in any way. This view is broadly shared across ages, races, political affiliations, and income brackets.

itk Millions of seniors are now receiving $90 payments from the Trump administration; it says sibling · sim 0.42 · keep 0.23 · score -6

#55 · news-in-context Jul 15, 2026

Monaco has the world's oldest population, with more than 36% of residents aged 65 or older, according to World Bank data.

Demographic data indicate that the world's populations are generally trending older.

Almost 18% of the US population is age 65 or older.
In some countries, seniors already comprise more than one-quarter of the population.
Countries with more senior citizen-aged populations may have greater economic pressures to support retirees and provide social support and safety net services.

itk Millions of seniors are now receiving $90 payments from the Trump administration; it says any_band · sim 0.41 · keep 0.70 · score -7

#56 · news-in-context Mar 10, 2026

National parks, explained

Roughly 83 million acres of the United States are set aside as federal National Parks land, an area large as Germany. From the original Yellowstone Park to small monuments and memorials, learn the essentials on this portion of America dedicated to public enjoyment and recreation with our quick explainer video.

itk Arizona's Chiricahua National Monument is on track to become the next US national park. any_band · sim 0.41 · keep 0.66 · score -3

#57 · explainers Jan 27, 2026

The 2025 Social Security Trustees Reports reaffirmed that beneficiaries will be paid 100% of total scheduled benefits until 2033

Specifically, it noted that the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund will be able to pay 100 percent of total scheduled benefits until 2033, which was unchanged from the previous year's report.

itk Millions of seniors are now receiving $90 payments from the Trump administration; it says sibling · sim 0.41 · keep 0.10 · score -8

#58 · news-in-context Jun 8, 2026

See Bloomberg's continuously updated Billionaire Index

This ranking, updated daily, shows a running tally of the world's 500 richest people. Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has largely been atop the list, with a net worth of around $723B as of June 2026. Values fluctuate significantly as much of the wealth is tied to equity in companies.

itk Elon Musk is the single biggest known donor in the 2025-26 US election cycle. any_band · sim 0.51 · keep 0.21 · score -4

#59 · explainers Jan 23, 2026

Social Security beneficiaries have received cost-of-living adjustments almost every year since 1975

Until 1975, Congress had to act each time Social Security benefits were increased. The 1970s saw particularly high inflation rates that eroded the purchasing power benefits, leading to the change.

itk Millions of seniors are now receiving $90 payments from the Trump administration; it says own · sim 0.41 · keep 0.26 · score -9

#60 · explainers Jan 27, 2026

Consumers reported losing more than $126M to Social Security scams in 2023

This article includes tips on how to spot a Social Security scam, including information about what the real Social Security Administration will and will not do. For instance, the Social Security Administration will never threaten someone with benefits suspension or bank account seizure if they do not comply with a request.

itk Millions of seniors are now receiving $90 payments from the Trump administration; it says sibling · sim 0.40 · keep 0.15 · score -11

Elizabeth Holmes, National Parks, and the Best Documentary Films