Dean Peterson | Vox

Why everyone hates this concrete building

2023-11-07T10:41:41-05:00

When you look at college campuses across the US, you’ll see massive concrete buildings everywhere. Many of these are designed in a style of architecture called “brutalism,” and it’s as divisive as it is distinctive.

Brutalist buildings strive for honesty and transparency in their form and materials. This often means using simple materials like raw untreated concrete as well as using bold geometry.

Its origins can be traced back to the architect Le Corbusier, who pioneered many of the concepts that would become popular among brutalist architects.

Brutalism found its way onto college campuses in the wake of World War II. With veterans returning from the war and a baby boom in the US, campuses expanded their facilities to accommodate the growing enrollment. And they wanted to convey their ambition and progressiveness by utilizing these modernist styles.

But, as explored in the video above, these buildings weren’t always popular with the public. And they became less so as time went on. We look at Evans Hall at UC Berkeley, which some people view as the ugliest building on campus and whose future hangs in the balance of shifting tastes in architecture. So what does the future hold for these buildings?

You can find the video above and the entire library of Vox’s videos on YouTube.

What I learned from taking a train across the US

2023-07-18T11:49:41-04:00

If you’ve taken the Amtrak recently, you might have no idea that the United States used to have the largest and wealthiest rail system in the world. How did the US go from having luxurious, widely used passenger trains to the Amtrak system we have today?

Video producer Dean Peterson makes a 72-hour journey on Amtrak from LA to NYC to show its current state of operation. From getting kicked in the head by his sleeping seatmate to taking in sweeping views of the desert at sunset, Dean shows the highs and lows of being stuck on Amtrak for days on end.

Along the way, he explains the history of passenger rail in the US — starting in the problematic robber baron era to the US government’s takeover of passenger rail. Will the United States ever catch up to the rest of the world when it comes to train travel, or are Americans stuck with an underfunded, inefficient rail network forever? Join Dean on his journey as he sets out to find the answers to these questions and more.

This is our second video in a series of five all about hidden design details, growing trends, and overarching systems in travel. We’ve got three more for you, so tune in with us next Tuesday!

Check out the first video on the swishes and swoops that define the RV aesthetic.

You can find this video and the entire library of Vox’s videos on YouTube.

How the economy shapes our love lives

2019-02-14T13:31:36-05:00

The way single Americans pair up has changed a lot over the years. You may think these ups and downs of dating would be influenced by love and affection but it’s actually tied to something far less romantic: the economy.

In the late-1800s the predominant mode of courtship was “calling,” a practice where a woman would receive potential suitors at her house and spend time together under the supervision of a family member. Super exciting, I know. Marriage was a practical and economic arrangement where the main priority was property and strategically aligning yourself with other families. Compatibility and mutual affection weren’t a priority.

This all changed during the industrial revolution. Young people fled farms and small towns to live in big cities and work in factories, restaurants, and bars. They lived away from the prying eyes of their parents for the first time and found themselves surrounded by other single young people. This set the stage for what we now consider “dating.”

Ever since then the way single people have gotten together has been dictated by the ups and downs of the economy in the United States. We talk to Harvard’s Moira Weigel, author of “The Labor of Love: The Invention of Dating” about how our woes about dating are nothing new, they’ve been around since people starting pairing off.

Watch the video above to see how the way we date has continued to follow trends in the economy decade by decade. You can find this video and all of Vox’s videos on YouTube.

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Pro wrestling is an art form

2018-10-11T10:36:18-04:00

Mention “pro wrestling” to the uninitiated and you’ll likely get a response along the lines of, “Isn’t it all fake?” Well, yes … but also no.

While the question is simple, answering it is deceptively difficult.

Do wrestlers compete in fights with predetermined outcomes? Yes. In fact, the world’s largest pro wrestling organization, World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. (WWE), employs a staff of writers and producers to come up with storylines for each event.

On the other hand, the real lives of pro wrestling’s biggest stars have become so intertwined with their fake storylines that it can be hard to say what’s fake and what’s real.

WWE CEO Vince McMahon has spent several decades growing the organization into a tremendously profitable company, earning a record total of $801 million in revenue last year. Along the way, though, he’s blurred the line between fact and fiction by creating a new style of entertainment.

He’s even stepped into the ring to perform as a dramatized version of himself. During scripted confrontations with his employees, McMahon has performed in fights that have included members of his family and even Donald Trump, who body-slammed McMahon during a guest appearance at WrestleMania 33. At the time, Trump was best known for his own reality-bending entertainment offering: the television show The Apprentice.

While these confrontations may have been fake, the success of the performances — and of pro wrestling overall — are authentic. Now, President Trump has appointed Vince’s wife Linda McMahon, who also spent time as CEO of the WWE, to the role of small-business administrator.

Vince McMahon has continued to helm the international expansion of WWE as its popularity continues to grow. This year, experts are predicting that WWE will surpass 1 billion social media followers.

So what’s the key to pro wrestling’s success?

It’s a blend of dramatic storytelling and raw athleticism that has been described as “sports entertainment,” a phrase McMahon coined to describe pro wrestling in 1989. When he did so, he broke the illusion that wrestling was an athletic endeavor on par with other professional sports, but at the same time, he declared that pro wrestling had something entirely unique to offer: an art form developed around a distinct set of storytelling principles that plays with the concept of reality and rewards fans who are “in on it.”

To learn how pro wrestling evolved from competitive sport into scripted spectacle, watch the video above. For more videos, subscribe to Vox’s YouTube channel.

How reliable is fingerprint analysis?

2018-08-07T17:42:44-04:00

Fingerprint analysis is used by law enforcement in most parts of the world. Here in the United States, the fingerprint database has more than 100 million subjects on file that police can cross-check when a print is left at a crime scene.

Fingerprints have many unique features that differentiate them from everyone else’s, and analysts look for these features when comparing two prints. By finding similar patterns and noting any differences they’re able to determine whether they have a positive match or not. But how reliable are these comparisons?

It turns out that there’s room for error. One accuracy study found that analysts make false positive matches (saying two prints are the same when they’re not) in 0.1% of cases. That may seem pretty good, but it can be a huge problem when an innocent person is wrongfully convicted of a crime based on a false match.

Watch the video above to learn how Brandon Mayfield, an American lawyer, was accused of the 2004 Madrid train bombing based on faulty fingerprint analysis. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to view all of our latest videos.

It’s not you. Date labels on food make no sense.

2018-06-25T16:58:38-04:00

When most people clean out their fridge, they tend to look at the date label on the food and throw it in the trash if it’s past that date. But chances are you’re throwing out tons of perfectly good food because date labels are often really confusing, and sometimes even meaningless.

Many people assume that date labels are federally regulated, but baby formula is the only product required to have consistent date labels. For everything else, it’s up to the states to decide.

This creates a confusing state-by-state patchwork of labels with everything from “use by” to “freshest before” to “sell by” to “packaged on.” There are dozens of different kinds of labels and they often don’t tell you anything about whether the food is safe to eat or not.

All this confusion causes us to waste tons of food every year. All the uneaten food waste costs Americans over $200 billion each year, and two-thirds of that comes from households.

Check out the video above to find out the simple solution that experts think would help solve our massive food waste problem. You can find this video and all of Vox’s videos on YouTube. Subscribe for more.

Why Stradivarius violins are worth millions

2018-05-14T18:09:36-04:00

Antonio Stradivari is widely considered the greatest violin maker of all time, and his instruments sell for as much as $16 million. For centuries, people have questioned what makes his violins so great, and many have investigated the source of its superiority — doing MRI scans, analyzing the wood density, and studying the chemical composition of the varnish.

But are these violins actually better than modern ones? One study pitted old Italian violins like Strads against modern violins in a blind test to see if musicians could tell the difference. Turns out most violinists couldn’t reliably tell the difference, but most also actually preferred the sound of the new violins.

Watch the video above to find out why the worth of a Strad extends beyond its sound. You can find this video and all of Vox’s videos on YouTube. Subscribe and stay tuned for more.

How the Catholic Church censored the Golden Age of Hollywood

2018-04-11T11:03:24-04:00

When you think of the Golden Age of Hollywood, you probably think of some of the greatest American movies ever made: Citizen Kane, Gone with the Wind, Casablanca. But what you may not realize is that all of these movies were censored by the Catholic Church.

From 1934 to 1954, every Hollywood movie needed to follow a strict set of moral guidelines that were aligned with Catholic theology. They included such things as barring excessive drinking, onscreen nudity, and even sexual relationships between races.

Enforcement was overseen by the Production Code Administration, which was led by devout Catholic Joseph Breen. For decades, the PCA needed to approve every line of dialogue, every costume, and every poster for any movie that wanted their seal of approval. And as professor Thomas Doherty told me, “adherence to the Production Code was not optional.” Without the PCA’s approval, your movie couldn’t get made.

Watch the video above to see exactly what made Breen one of the most powerful people in Hollywood history. Also make sure to pick up Doherty’s excellent book on Breen and the PCA.

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Why female condoms are so hard to find

2018-04-10T14:59:54-04:00

Amazon has hundreds of types of male condoms available, in all shapes, sizes, colors, and flavors. You can walk into pretty much any gas station, supermarket, or pharmacy and easily buy a male condom.

How many types of female condoms are available in the US? Just one. And you need a prescription to get it.

The first prototype for the modern female condom was created by a Danish doctor named Lasse Hessel. It was brought to the United States in the ’90s and didn’t sell very well. Women complained that it made noise, and without proper use, it would fall out during sex.

The company that manufactured them came out with a second, improved version but didn’t market it very well, and as a result, only about 8 percent of US women reportedly used one.

All of this despite the fact that female condoms are the only woman-initiated method of preventing both unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections, and they’re about as effective as male condoms.

Additionally, in 2017, the company that makes the only female condom approved by the US Food and Drug Administration switched to a prescription-based model, so if you want to get one, you need to go see your doctor or buy it directly from their website.

Watch the video above to see why it’s so hard to find a female condom.

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How rats take advantage of human failure

2018-01-16T16:10:05-05:00

Street rats are one of the most universally despised creatures on the planet. Thinking about them makes many people’s skin crawl, and subway riders scream just being in their presence.

Those feelings aren’t totally unreasonable, though — rats are a really big problem. It’s estimated that they cause $19 billion of damage in the US every year, and they can carry some dangerous diseases. But what if our rat problems aren’t really their fault?

I walked around New York City’s Chinatown with rodentologist Bobby Corrigan, who showed me how human behavior enables rats to succeed.

Bobby says rats couldn’t proliferate if it weren’t for our bad behavior. Improper trash disposal, not maintaining our infrastructure, and not taking preventive measures are just a few ways that we allow these rodents to overrun our cities.

There are lots of things we can do to prevent the spread of rats, and New York City recently allocated $32 million to the fight. But Bobby says there is one thing that all humans can do to pitch in: “Be a smart mammal. Whatever you do with your trash, ask yourself: Can the rats get to it?”

Watch the video above to see why Bobby thinks rats will outlive humans. You can find this video and all of Vox’s videos on YouTube. Subscribe for more episodes.