Jen Banbury

Sep 22, 2023 | atlasobscura.com | Jessica Leigh Hester |Jen Banbury |Erin Mullaley |Eleanor Cummins

We don’t think much today about the world-altering power that maps once held. You probably have a detailed cartographic guide of almost every point on the planet within arms’ reach right now, and in most places, the GPS on your phone can nail your location on that mape within a few feet. But throughout history, maps—accurate, error-filled, intentionally misleading—have had a profound impact. And even today how we draw the world continues to shape our understanding of it—and have real consequences.

Jul 15, 2023 | bigthink.com | Jen Banbury

For 52 straight days this winter, Shannon Hovey woke up in the company of five other men in a metal tube, 20 feet long and seven feet in diameter, tucked deep inside a ship in the Gulf of Mexico. He retrieved his breakfast from a hatch (usually eggs), read a briefing for the day, and listened for a disembodied voice to tell him when it was time to put on a rubber suit and get to work.