海角大神

Beneath the waves of the Caribbean Sea lies a marine metropolis built upon the living rocks that are coral reefs, a world that the majority of humans will never see, writes Bryan Walsh for . The Catlin Seaview Survey aims to change that with a $20,000 custom-built underwater camera, a multinational team of researchers, and good old Google.

Guided by a diver and attached to a propeller sled, the SVII camera snaps a picture every three seconds. During one 45-minute dive, the SVII captured more than 900 images, which a computer later pieced together into a panoramic view of the reef. Some of those images will be added to Google Ocean, an underwater version of Google鈥檚 Street View program. The project is a race against time to document the world鈥檚 coral reefs before what the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has called 鈥渢he most vulnerable marine ecosystem on Earth鈥� disappears.

The Whole Foods effect

Whole Foods Markets have become a fixture of privileged liberal enclaves and hipster college towns, but in recent years, the elite supermarket has found that appetites for fresh, organic, and natural food can find a home almost anywhere. In July 2013, the Austin, Texas-based natural food giant opened a 21,000-square-foot store in one of the country鈥檚 most unlikely locations 鈥� Detroit. 鈥淭his may come as a surprise to those who still think of the retailer as 鈥榃hole Paycheck,鈥� an overpriced natural-food haven for yoga-practicing, juice-cleansing Prius drivers or hipsters obsessed with artisanal baking soda,鈥� writes 鈥檚 Beth Kowitt.

Whole Foods鈥檚 national brand is largely defined by strict rules for its shelves. Since its inception in 1980, the market has not stocked products with artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives, and currently bans 78 different ingredients. Whether in Austin, Detroit, or San Francisco, shoppers automatically know that they will not find any products with aspartame or high-fructose corn syrup even as they experience a bit of localized flare, from an oyster-shucking station in San Francisco to Motown-themed d茅cor in Detroit. It鈥檚 a formula that draws more than 7 million customers to the company鈥檚 375 different stores each week.

The floating 鈥榓rrondissement鈥� of Paris

If Paris is the city of love, the Seine River is its heart. The beloved rivi猫re serves as the city鈥檚 compass, its muse, and its keeper of secrets, writes National Geographic鈥檚 Cathy Newman. With Parisian indifference, the Seine holds and protects both the keys to lovers鈥� locks tossed into the waves in a superstitious bid for eternal love and the castoff wedding rings of divorc茅es reopening their hearts.

Ms. Newman opens a porthole into a segment of Parisian culture that cannot be found in guidebooks or walking tours. She introduces readers to the diverse r茅sidents that call the Seine home, from the erudite composer who installed a Steinway grand piano in the living room of his houseboat, to the downtrodden vagrants who seek refuge on a floating homeless shelter.

Chernobyl: 28 years later

It has been 28 years since the V.I. Lenin Chernobyl Atomic Energy Station shot 鈥渁 biblical pillar of radioactive flame surging into the sky,鈥� writes Russian-born, American-raised Alexander Nazaryan for . The thousand-mile area Exclusion Zone surrounding the nuclear facility some 90 miles north of Kiev, Ukraine, will likely be uninhabitable for the next 20,000 years. Yet, somehow, the radioactive wasteland has given rise to a booming tourist industry.

The Ukrainian government first started allowing tourists to visit the region in 2002. In 2004, about 870 visitors toured the ruins of Pripyat, the abandoned home of Chernobyl鈥檚 former employees. Ten years later, more than 12,000 tourists, mostly Americans trek to the 鈥淯krainian Pompeii.鈥� Like Mt. Vesuvius, the volcano that buried Pompeii in ash in AD 79, the nuclear reactor at Chernobyl remains dormant but active. 鈥淭he place remains a half-opened tinderbox of potential nuclear horrors, and just because much of the world has forgotten about Chernobyl doesn鈥檛 mean catastrophe won鈥檛 visit here again,鈥� Mr. Nazaryan writes. 鈥淏ut don鈥檛 let that detract from your sightseeing.鈥�

Amazon鈥檚 other drones

While Amazon scrambles to secure unmanned delivery copters, privately contracted delivery drivers race around America鈥檚 cities and towns delivering packages for the company鈥檚 鈥淧rime鈥� members for $1.50 a pop. 鈥淚f [a driver] delivers 150 Amazon boxes 鈥� a fairly routine number 鈥� he can pull in $225. Not bad for a day鈥檚 work,鈥� writes Dave Jamieson for t. 鈥淭hat is, until he starts tallying up all his out-of-pocket costs.鈥�

As private contractors, these drivers purchase their own cargo vans and cover all gasoline, insurance, and maintenance costs. By contracting private delivery drivers, Amazon avoids having to cover costly workplace benefits and mandatory unemployment compensation insurance. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like they want us to be employees, but they don鈥檛 want to pay for it,鈥� one driver told Mr. Jamieson.