Spark 415

It's okay to cry on Instagram

On Instagram, it can often seem like people are displaying an art directed, perfectly lit, ideal version of their lives. But now some see it as a place to reveal their full selves -- tears, warts and all. Aimee Morrison, an associate professor of English and Literature at the University of Waterloo, talks about what she thinks is behind this trend. 

Conserve The Sound preserves the sound

Daniel Chun and Jan Derksen run a film design and communication firm, based in Germany. But they're also interested in preserving vanishing and endangered sounds. They created Conserve the Sound, an online museum of vintage sounds.

From rotary dial phones to Polaroid cameras, the site documents sounds from the past before they completely disappear from our daily life. 

Using 'shoe lasers' to help people with Parkinson's take the next step

Freezing of gait is a common symptom for people with Parkinson's disease and causes a temporary inability to move. This freezing made walking difficult for Lise Pape's father. So she designed Path Finder to help. It's a shoe attachment that projects a laser in front of the user. The visual cue helps people with Parkinson's get moving again.  

Productivity is Counterproductive

The focus on workplace efficiency and systemized time management goes back to the turn of the last century, but in today's tech-driven world, it has become a badge of honour, an obsession that prioritizes individual mastery of activity over the actual meaning of work. In her new book, Counterproductive, Melissa Gregg argues it isolates us and takes the politics out of work