Pitching airline executives during route-planning speed dates, opening a $1.7 billion new terminal, and making space for emotional airport reunions with Christina Cassotis, CEO of Pittsburgh International Airport.
Designing runways for hot air and heavy planes, inspecting pavement cracks with measuring wheels, and protecting vicious little owls from construction crews with Eileen Vélez-Vega, a civil aviation engineer in Puerto Rico.
Sequencing departures like a moving puzzle, scrambling when a jet takes off without clearance, and catching what radar misses with a glance out the window with Michael Rejent, an air traffic controller.
Hugging a mother through an anxiety attack, bidding for the best routes, and absorbing strangers’ confessions at 35,000 feet with Linda Beall, a flight attendant.
Shooting cat-three landings in the fog, using the “voice of God” on unruly passengers, and declaring Mayday after an engine fire with Paul Drusch, a commercial airline pilot.
Each summer, we read a novel and explore its themes through conversations with leading thinkers at the intersection of science and culture.
Craving adventure after finishing their Ph.D.s in neuroscience, Thomas Andrillon and Chiara Varazzani set off on a round-the-world trek in their 2006 Land Rover Defender, nicknamed Bechamel. But the trip almost didn’t happen. And once they were on the road, they almost didn’t make it back.
Regulators are realizing the need to act as a type of “behavioral economics police” to protect consumers from a deluge of sludge.
