Inside a local scene built on letters and camaraderie

Beyond the salad bar and hot foods at the 5th Street Station Wegmans, seven people play Scrabble on a rainy Friday night. Their boards are as bespoke as their tiles and tile bags, and people are confused. “This game,” says one would-be detective, passing by, “looks a lot like Scrabble.” “It is Scrabble,” one of […]

Is UVA getting smarter about how it plays its biotech research cards?

When University of Virginia neuroscientist Harald Sontheimer shared this year’s International Prize for Translational Neuroscience with Stanford’s Michelle Monje, publicity about the award created the impression of a partnership. The two were credited with the potentially life-saving and, thus, marketable discovery that gliomas—deadly brain tumors—wire themselves into neural networks, hijacking brain activity to fuel their […]

Inside the uncanny world of competitive ESP

A new sporting event debuted over the summer, a form of mental gymnastics in which the less you “know,” the better you do. At the inaugural Psi Games in early August, “perceptualists” competed in trials of mindsight, remote viewing, precognition, psychokinesis, and dowsing. On game day, 19 perceptualists—percepts for short—huddled in a corner of the Jefferson […]

The Virginia Film Festival brings filmmakers, stars, and audiences together for a five-day celebration of cinema

Big-deal film fests are synonymous with location. Toronto, Telluride, Cannes, and Sundance evoke industry accolades and red-carpet credentials. Our own Virginia Film Festival has gotten pretty buzzy over the years, with marquee names, tentpole previews, and movie deals cut on the Downtown Mall. The VAFF has become “one of the nation’s leading regional film festivals […]

Volunteers educate residents about their bear neighbors 

“Everybody around here has a black bear story,” says Beth Kuhn.  And Kuhn has likely heard them all. As outreach coordinator for the Rivanna Master Naturalists, the local chapter of the state’s master naturalist program, Kuhn helps deploy a cadre of volunteers to teach Living With Black Bears. Because in Virginia, black bears are our […]

Two organizations are leading a charge for local civic engagement

UVA’s Karsh Institute of Democracy hosted its first Democracy360 event during what seemed like a politically charged time. It was fall 2023, and the ever-lengthening presidential election cycle was ramping up for a 2024 showdown between the Dem incumbent and GOP nominee. Democrats were still hopeful about President Joe Biden’s prospects in the coming election. […]

Albemarle County weighs regulation on data center development

Virginia is for lovers—data center lovers. Nearly half of the nation’s facilities are in the Commonwealth, mostly concentrated in Northern Virginia where there are more data centers than anywhere else in the world. These facilities, which can range from the size of a grocery store to an entire shopping district or larger, use massive amounts […]