Johnny Simon

Forty years ago today, (Feb. 11) the Iranian government collapsed, after the Western-backed Shah’s exit from Iran and the return of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Shia fundamentalist cleric, from exile in France. While the Iranian Revolution succeeded in seizing power and establishing a Islamic theocracy on that date, it was the culmination of months of street protests, demonstrations, and political upheaval.

The fine-art photographer and MacArthur genius Dawoud Bey has transported his audiences before, asking them to consider the hard truths and realities of history.

If you think esports is just “people watching people play video games,” you’re technically right, but you’re missing the extent to which it’s become a true spectator sport. Fans make signs for their favorite players, the audience is rapt with emotion as they follow every move of the game, and the broadcast is narrated by professional commentators who can break down a team’s gameplay like one would analyze the fielding strategy for a football or soccer team.

Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro is preventing a convoy of aid from entering his country by blocking access to a bridge that connects it to Colombia.

Donald Trump, who prizes loyalty, usually gets to carefully choose the people placed closest to him for his speeches. For the State of the Union, he doesn’t have a say in who shares the stage. The backdrop provides for two very visible roles, filled by the vice president and the speaker of the House.

A polar vortex has been bearing down on portions of North America this week, plunging temperatures far below freezing, with brutal wind-chill temperatures. Reuters reports that the wind chill  in Park Rapids, Minnesota dipped to -42°F (-41°C) yesterday (Jan. 30).

Predictions of catastrophic water shortages may seem like apocalyptic visions of the future, but water crises are indeed a fact of modern life already. Natural factors like drought have left some reservoirs depleted, while siphoning of historical water sources have transformed freshwater bodies into dusty shadows of their former selves.

A tornado ripped through Havana, Cuba on Sunday night (Jan. 27) killing four and injuring almost 200 people. Though Cuba has encountered several hurricanes, tornados are a much rarer occurrence. Reuters reported this was the strongest one to hit Cuba in close to 80 years, arriving with 200-mile-per-hour winds.

Air pollution has reached hazardous levels in Bangkok, Thailand, leading some officials to attempt an unusual approach: letting drones spray the pollution out of the sky.

Today (Jan. 20) is the two-year mark for US president Donald Trump’s administration. While some hoped that the trappings of the White House might soften Trump’s rougher, bombastic qualities, the isolation of the presidency seems to have only heightened them.

Prohibition in the US was made law 100 years ago on Jan. 16, 1919, as Nebraska became the 36th state to ratify the 18th amendment, which banned “the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors.”

November 11th, or 11.11, or “Singles Day” is one of the biggest shopping days in the world and testament to Alibaba’s power and scale.

Donald Trump’s appetite for fast food is well documented. He’s discussed his McDonald’s preferences with Anderson Cooper. His disdain for elaborate dinner parties is well known, too. Last night (Jan. 14), as the NCAA college football champions visited the White House, Trump feted the team with a table full of burgers, fries and pizzas brought in from Wendy’s, McDonald’s, and Domino’s—paid for by the president, according to press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders

The Dakar Rally is a challenging weeks-long off-road race that snakes its way through the shifting landscape of South America. It is also one of the most dangerous sporting events in the world,—dozens of competitors, journalists and spectators have died during the rally.  Though the race does offer some prize money to the tune of $50,000, the bigger incentive for the hundreds of competitors is a chance for lucrative sponsorship deal with companies. The race originally took place between Paris, France and Dakar, Senegal, but due to security concerns in the region, it moved to South America ten years ago.

Donald Trump delivered a statement last night (Jan. 8) from the Oval Office laying out his argument for funding a wall along the US’s southern border with Mexico. Funding for a wall has been the sticking point in federal budget negotiations and has led to the government being shut down for the past few weeks.

If UK prime minister Theresa May’s Brexit proposal is rejected by Parliament, some of the most immediate repercussions could manifest at Dover, one of the world’s busiest ports and a crucial shipping link between the UK and Europe. To prepare for the worst, the British government staged a dry run on Monday (Jan.7) of what a massive traffic jam through the Port of Dover might look like.

The cargo ship MSC Zoe lost scores of shipping containers this week in the Wadden Sea off northern Europe during Storm Zeetje, which packed heavy winds and waves cresting over 30 feet high.

Over the centuries the moon has been worshipped, feared, and even thought to contain vast oceans and plant life. But as our technology has progressed, our perspective of our closest celestial neighbor has been brought, in a sense, down to Earth. As interest grows in returning to the moon, its important to look back how far we’ve come, from longingly gazing up at the sky to walking on the lunar surface.

If you’re into foraging for the wild and rare Spanish delicacy of goose barnacles, it’s now the best and worst of times.

Today (Dec. 21) marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 8 mission, which launched from what was then Cape Kennedy on this day in 1968. The vitally important mission, the second crewed one of the Apollo program, was the first to orbit the moon, giving us the iconic “Earthrise” photo.

A newly released image from the European Space Agency gives a stunning look at what an ice filled crater on Mars might appear like to the naked eye.

2018 was an incredible year to watch the sky. While things on Earth may have been a bit turbulent, humanity’s quest to know our universe persevered. These are some of 2018’s most stellar images from space and our attempts to explore it.

Thunderstorms are dazzling from the ground as bolts of lightning illuminate a cloudy canopy. From space, they can be equally as stunning.

The Japanese surprise attack on US military installations at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, happened 77 years ago today (Dec. 7) in 1941. The attack, which killed more than 2,300 US service members and 68 civilians, ushered in the US’s involvement in World War II.