Karl Popper was a 20th-century philosopher who championed open societies, critical thinking, and gradual reform over utopian political schemes In 1919, a seventeen-year-old student in Vienna joined a street demonstration organized by young communists. Police opened fire on the unarmed crowd, killing twelve people and wounding dozens more. The young student had encouraged his friends…

Every year, a small town in southern Mexico stages one of the world’s most unusual wedding ceremonies. A mayor dresses for the occasion, a bride wears a white gown adorned with flowers, music fills the streets, and hundreds of residents gather to celebrate. The only difference is that the bride is not a person but…

Republicans hold a 218-214 House majority, with one independent caucusing with them and two vacancies; Democrats need four seats to take control. US Republicans are pouring money into more than three dozen US House races previously considered safe for the party, with Republican groups reserving $888 million in advertising for the coming weeks, compared with…

China has some of the most polluted cities on the planet, and for years the usual fixes, stricter emission rules, factory shutdowns, better public transport, have only chipped away at the problem. So Italian architect Stefano Boeri decided to try something far more radical, wrapping entire buildings and eventually entire cities in trees. His firm’s…