Can the Arts Save These Struggling Towns in Postindustrial America?

The scene in Trinidad, Colorado, on a recent Friday afternoon could have sprung from the lines of Walt Whitman’s poem, “I Hear America Singing.” Designers paste vinyl lettering to a new downtown office, while baristas at a trendy sandwich shop serve up artisanal dishes. Local theater actors paint on their faces for the weekend show, […]

Health in a postindustrial age: The mystery of our creaky, painful knees

Enlarge / An archaeological sample with traces of bone-on-bone contact. (credit: Heli Maijanen) Painful, stiff, and grating knees may not just be a sign of aging—they may also be a sign of the times. Degenerative knee arthritis, or knee osteoarthritis (OA), seems to be on the rise. Since the early part of the 20th century, its […]