Japan Mysterious metal sphere washes up on Japanese beach, baffles authorities Mark Frauenfelder

surveillance mishaps Border blimp runs amok in Texas — wreaks havoc for 600 miles before crashing in Dallas Carla Sinclair

Gorton: a ubiquitous typeface you may never have heard of Jennifer Sandlin

microplastics Cooking with black plastic might not be good for you Rob Beschizza

ecological entomology Plastics are entangling ants and other insects, according to new study Carla Sinclair

Russian spy whale spotted off Sweden David Pescovitz

design US Army developing its first-ever tactical bra David Pescovitz

Science The album Tubular Bells (with The Exorcist theme) accidentally contains morse code sent to UK military submarine David Pescovitz

News Trump pardons Steve Bannon, Elliot Broidy, Lil Wayne, others — 73 pardons, 70 commutations Xeni Jardin

climate change Ocean pollution is shrinking mammal testicles Thom Dunn

News Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft all set to deliver Ryugu asteroid samples to Earth Sunday, December 6 Xeni Jardin

History Powerful Iwo Jima WWII footage shot by marines in combat and never seen publicly David Pescovitz

Business Without right to repair, the military can't fix its own battlefield equipment Cory Doctorow

picks North Korea displays massive live-fire artillery drill as U.S. nuclear sub docks in South Korea Xeni Jardin

california Abalone diving season is off to a hazardous start in California Jason Weisberger

offworld Why Final Fantasy VII matters Leigh Alexander

Technology 1871 plans map out the first circuit of the globe by telegraph Andrea James

The surprising history of hippy crack Linda Rodriguez