Mathew Ingram
Media/tech journalist; analysis of platforms, news distribution, and audience behavior.
Cold War Dream: Nuclear Bombs as Construction Tools
The US planned to use nuclear bombs for construction projects The year was 1957. The Cold War was in full swing. The U.S. was seemingly lagging behind in the technological arms race and needed to make a show, a display of power and prowess. Project Plowshare was a project in which the nation’s scientists were supposed to find something useful to… https://mathewingram.com/work/2026/05/19/the-us-planned-to-use-nuclear-bombs-for-construction-projects/?utm_source=threads&utm_medium=jetpack_social
Peeling Tape Emits Tiny Supersonic Sound Bursts
The screech when peeling tape is tiny supersonic sound bursts The screeching of peeling tape is a familiar albeit annoying sound. However, despite decades of study, its source has remained elusive. The peeling of adhesive tape from a solid surface is...
AI Saves Lives: Early Cancer Detection, Faster Drugs
Hear me out: AI also does things that are good There are lots of things to dislike about AI, but we should admit that it is also doing some inarguably beneficial things, like detecting cancer earlier, designing new medications that work...
New Air‑filled Chambers Found Inside Menkaure Pyramid
Secret chambers have been discovered in a Giza pyramid Researchers from Cairo University and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have located two air-filled spaces within Giza’s Menkaure pyramid that hint at a possible secret entrance. The Menkaure pyramid is the...
US Farms Overproduce, Waste, and Subsidize Idle Land
American farmers grow more food than the country eats, export 20% of the surplus, and we the buyers throw out another third of what’s left. Farmers collect $1.85 billion a year from the federal government to keep a Kentucky-sized 40,000...
Even Musk's Lawsuit Raises Surprisingly Valid Points
When the worst person you know makes a good point Despite having a ton of terrible opinions about a wide range of things, Musk has a number of points in his OpenAI lawsuit that are worth considering. Believe me, I don't...
Canadian‑Built Gander Social Sparks Digital Sovereignty Debate
Gander Social and the debate over digital sovereignty I recently wrote a feature piece for a new Canadian-owned media outlet called Be Giant about Gander Social, a new Canadian-owned and operated social-media app that is still in beta testing, and the...
Stablecoins Could Transform Global Banking System
The one kind of crypto that might actually be useful There is one kind of crypto that I find interesting, and it has nothing to do with the shady world most associate with the term. I think stablecoins could help significantly...
San Giovanni Di Battista Glows in Nocturnal Baroque Splendor
This is what the baroque church of San Giovanni di Battista in Cervo, Italy looks like at night
Anthropic's Mythos: Genuine Risk or Marketing Hype?
Anthropic’s new Mythos model: Dangerous or over-hyped? Anthropic says its new model is too dangerous to release. Is it overselling it as a marketing effort, as some critics claim? Possibly. But it could also actually be dangerous https://mathewingram.com/work/2026/04/16/anthropics-new-mythos-model-dangerous-or-over-hyped/?utm_source=threads&utm_medium=jetpack_social
From Bras to Space: Seamstresses Redesign NASA Suit
When a bra maker got the job of making the first NASA spacesuit In 1966, when seamstresses at the International Latex Corporation arrived at its new Apollo Suit shopfloor in Frederica, Delaware, they were essentially “taught to sew again from scratch.”...
AI Writing Is a Tool, Not a Talentless Shortcut
Using AI to write isn’t always wrong and other heresies If you use AI to help with your writing, are you a talentless hack? Perhaps. But I don't think the connection is as direct as some would like to make it....
Ex‑CIA Officer Claims He Thwarted Iran’s Nuclear Bomb
CIA officer says he stopped Iran from getting the nuclear bomb Chalker told me that he wanted to repair his reputation. He had always been an American patriot, he insisted, and to prove it he was willing to talk publicly, for...
Obsession with Jeweled Eggs Shattered His Family
His obsession with jewelled eggs destroyed his family When I was growing up, my mother used to refer to the egg as “your father’s ego”, while to the rest of the world it was known as the Argyle Library Egg by...
Rethinking AI Nightmares: Are Our Fears Misguided?
In this week's Torment Nexus newsletter: are we having the wrong nightmares about AI? https://torment-nexus.mathewingram.com/are-we-having-the-wrong-nightmares-about-ai/?ref=the-torment-nexus-newsletter