z-other-galley
Clothing rental services promise a sustainable alternative to fast fashion. Experts say it depends
For weddings, vacations or other special occasions, more consumers are turning to clothing rental services instead of buying something new. These subscription-based services, often marketed as a sustainable alternative to fast fashion, ship straight to customers everything from everyday and workwear to dresses, handbags and formalwear. Then, the items are returned for someone else to […]
Good dog! More children’s hospitals turn to furry caregivers to help kids heal
CINCINNATI | The first time 5-year-old Calvin Owens went outside in more than a month, he met up with his canine friend Hadley on a hospital patio. Despite being tethered to equipment with wires and tubes, the little boy managed to stand up near his wheelchair long enough to toss her a ball. He smiled […]
Q&A: Anna Gomez is the sole Democrat on the FCC. She has a warning for big media companies
WASHINGTON | Anna Gomez wakes up every morning and checks her phone to see if President Donald Trump has fired her yet. For now, she remains the sole Democrat on the Federal Communications Commission, where she’s on an increasingly urgent mission to press media companies to more forcefully combat an administration she says is cracking […]
Humanoids dance and thread needles as Japanese robotics developers look to outdo Chinese
TOKYO | Mechanical hands dexterous enough to thread a needle, childlike dancing robots and adult-sized ones to help with deliveries were on display Thursday as the Humanoids Summit Tokyo opened. Among the dozens of companies taking part, including well-known players like Boston Dynamics and Toyota Motor Corp., the big stars now were clearly the Chinese. […]
Why your co-worker might be listening to music tuned to 432 hertz
NEW YORK | Yoselin Sanchez has been in chronic pain since she was born with cervical scoliosis. While little eases the discomfort, she’s found ways to distract herself from hurting. She practices yoga. She performs free flow dance. And while she works, she frequently listens to house music tuned to 432 hertz, a frequency lower […]
‘Shoot me up with a big one’: A timeline of the last days of Matthew Perry
LOS ANGELES | After a lifetime of sobriety struggles, Matthew Perry spent the last days of his life desperately seeking the ketamine that would ultimately cause his death. The 2 1/2-year investigation and prosecution that followed came to a close Wednesday with the sentencing of his personal assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, who bought him the drugs, […]
Some brands say their jeans are eco-friendly. Here’s how to find a pair that’s actually sustainable
NEW YORK | Your favorite pair of jeans may have traveled around the world through cotton farms, dye houses, wash facilities and factories before ending up in your closet. The denim may have never been worn but it is stonewashed, sanded, chemically faded or laser-treated to look like it. Those processes can require significant amounts […]
Movie Review: ‘Backrooms’ goes from internet meme to the big screen
What evil lurks in the drabbest of interiors? The meme-rooted “Backrooms” is the latest movie to pull its mounting horrors out of liminal spaces. “Exit 8,” released earlier this year, was set entirely in a subway corridor. In “Backrooms,” a struggling furniture salesperson discovers beneath his store an underground labyrinth, all lined with yellow wallpapered […]
Japanese woman who scaled the world’s 14 top peaks says she wants to share joy
TOKYO | The first woman to conquer the world’s second-highest peak, K2, three times has also summited all 14 of the world’s tallest mountains. But Naoko Watanabe, 44, says climbing is less about piling up records than enjoying an adventure, being happy and experiencing new people, food and culture. She’s planning to return in June […]
A proposed additive ban could change New York’s pizza and bagels, some say for the better
NEW YORK | After more than a decade of mixing and kneading dough in his family’s Brooklyn pizzeria, Salvatore Lo Duca recently made a distressing discovery: A key component of their thin-crust pies, bromated flour, contained a suspected carcinogen already banned in much of the world. So, in the back kitchen of Lo Duca Pizza, […]