The Verge: All Posts by Cory Zapatkahttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/52801/VER_Logomark_32x32..png2021-12-15T09:00:00-05:00https://www.theverge.com/authors/cory-zapatka/rss2021-12-15T09:00:00-05:002021-12-15T09:00:00-05:00How Silicon Valley enabled Theranos to run wild
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<p id="ZyI7ok">As the trial of Elizabeth Holmes comes to a close, many questions have surfaced about what — or who — enabled Theranos to rise to such heights. As charismatic and ambitious as Holmes was, none of her success would have been possible without the nearly $945 million in funds she received from notable investors like <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/04/health/theranos-investors-murdoch-devos-walmart.html">Rupert Murdoch or the Walton family</a>.</p>
<p id="TXxrfj">It’s not unusual for investors to blindly place their money into companies with <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/04/technology/theranos-elizabeth-holmes-investors-diligence.html">little to no knowledge of their technology</a>. But when those companies end up on trial for more fraud charges than you can count on two hands, <em>who is to blame</em>? </p>
<p id="ngt9Ld">In the first episode of a three-part series, we look into the culture surrounding venture capital investors in Silicon Valley and what role they may have...</p>
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<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/12/15/22834892/elizabeth-holmes-theranos-trial-investors-money">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.theverge.com/2021/12/15/22834892/elizabeth-holmes-theranos-trial-investors-moneyCory Zapatka2020-03-19T10:35:37-04:002020-03-19T10:35:37-04:00How the coronavirus hitches a ride around your life
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<p id="7taorc">Like millions of others right now, we on the <em>Verge</em> Science video team are hunkered down in our homes to help slow the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. This presents some obvious difficulties for video production: what do you film when you can’t leave the house?</p>
<p id="7d1hUD">Tricky as it is, we’re committed to getting scrappy with our circumstances. So I whipped up a small demonstration that doesn’t require a studio or co-workers. Step one: get a powder called Glo Germ, which sticks to hands, faces, and other surfaces and also glows under ultraviolet light. This will be my stand-in for virus particles. Step two: put some powder on my hands, and go about my normal business in my apartment. Step three: retrace my steps...</p>
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<a href="https://www.theverge.com/science/2020/3/19/21185871/coronavirus-covid-19-cdc-social-distancing-quarantine-recommendations-experiment">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.theverge.com/science/2020/3/19/21185871/coronavirus-covid-19-cdc-social-distancing-quarantine-recommendations-experimentCory Zapatka2019-11-19T10:00:00-05:002019-11-19T10:00:00-05:00The chaotic industry behind the insulin I need to live
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<p id="6kkuJW">In the winter of 2005, I was so severely underweight and starved of energy that I went to great lengths to provide my body with any source of sugar. That included chugging a brilliant cocktail of Skittles dissolved in warm water. My sisters thought it was gross. As I sipped my drink, we watched <em>Law & Order: SVU</em> on television, but my vision was so blurry that I could barely make out which characters were which. Their voices helped. Later that night, I was jerked awake in my bed by simultaneous charley horses in each of my legs. My calf muscles were so contracted that my feet flipped up towards my face, something you only see in exorcism scenes from horror films. And, just like in <em>The Exorcist</em>, I wet myself. This wasn’t the first time in...</p>
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<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/19/20966695/insulin-industry-diabetic-type-1-drug-price-cost-manufacturing-access">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/19/20966695/insulin-industry-diabetic-type-1-drug-price-cost-manufacturing-accessCory Zapatka2019-08-06T10:00:00-04:002019-08-06T10:00:00-04:00How we proved this tiny rock came from space
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<p id="HgtBW2">Back in February, I spent a few hours crawling around on my hands and knees on a rooftop in Brooklyn, New York. What I was looking for was smaller than the period at the end of this sentence: nearly invisible micrometeorites that may — or may not — have fallen from space. Surprisingly, I actually found some. I think. </p>
<p id="p02jmg">With the help of a powerful neodymium magnet, some plastic sandwich bags, and <em>a lot </em>of patience, I was able to scrounge up about fifteen cosmic candidates — a process that we documented in our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9q3uNcJh4pc&feature=youtu.be">first micrometeorite video</a>. </p>
<p id="YCQvxn">But finding the samples ultimately proved to be the <em>easy</em> part. Trying to verify their origin turned out to be an entirely different ordeal. Here at <em>Verge Science</em>, we simply didn’t have the capacity to...</p>
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<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/6/20754931/micrometeorite-space-rock-matter-neodymium-magnet">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/6/20754931/micrometeorite-space-rock-matter-neodymium-magnetCory Zapatka2019-06-25T10:00:00-04:002019-06-25T10:00:00-04:00The real reasons why the US refuses to go metric
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<p id="2tz0h2">In 1975, the United States passed the <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-89/pdf/STATUTE-89-Pg1007.pdf">Metric Conversion Act</a>. The legislation was meant to slowly transition its units of measurement from feet and pounds to meters and kilograms, bringing the US up to speed with the rest of the world. There was only one issue: the law was completely voluntary. Of course, that meant it pretty much never took off.</p>
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<figcaption><em>The pesky little clause that derailed metrication in the United States.</em></figcaption>
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<p id="yoe1aO">Over 40 years later, the US lives in a metric gray area. Sure, it has a few laws requiring that consumer goods list both metric and US customary measures, but it still remains isolated in its US customary measures bubble. So what would it take for that bubble to burst?</p>
<p id="aIL5ya">In the latest <em>Verge Science</em> video,...</p>
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<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/25/18693533/metric-system-measurement-us-conversion-act-verge-science">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/25/18693533/metric-system-measurement-us-conversion-act-verge-scienceCory Zapatka2019-04-02T10:00:00-04:002019-04-02T10:00:00-04:00The underground communities that have taken over Centralia, Pennsylvania
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<p id="io7cgG">Centralia, Pennsylvania, was once a prosperous town, largely supported by the coal industry. But in 1962, a trash fire near an abandoned strip mine ignited what remained of the 25 million-ton coal seam beneath the town. Year after year, the fire spread, releasing noxious gas, opening up sinkholes, and ultimately making the town uninhabitable — for humans, at least. </p>
<p id="PNQXIj">In the absence of humans and in the presence of rapidly heating soil, some interesting microbes have appeared: thermophiles. These microbes, which live at super hot temperatures, have taken a liking to some of the vent zones in Centralia, some of which have heated up to nearly 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60 degrees Celsius) over the course of just a few short decades. </p>
<p id="0BapFI">Ashley...</p>
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<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/2/18290774/centralia-pennsylvania-ghost-town-underground-fire-bacteria-microbes-microbiology-science">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/2/18290774/centralia-pennsylvania-ghost-town-underground-fire-bacteria-microbes-microbiology-scienceCory Zapatka2019-02-05T10:01:52-05:002019-02-05T10:01:52-05:00Tiny meteorites are everywhere — here’s how to find them
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<figcaption>Cory Zapatka</figcaption>
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<p id="WRPZFh">Between 60 and 100 tons of space dust falls to Earth every single day. That’s <em>a lot</em> of dust. Some of it has been <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/328699a0">pulled up from deep-sea sediments</a> or <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/328699a0">melted out of ice</a> near the poles. But there hasn’t been somebody dedicated enough — or maybe even absurd enough — to seek out these tiny bits of metal and rock from outer space in populated places. </p>
<p id="AqAuux">That changed in 2010 when Jon Larsen, a jazz musician-turned-amateur scientist, started searching for micrometeorites in some of the <a href="https://eos.org/articles/urban-micrometeorites-no-longer-a-myth">dustiest corners of the Earth</a>. </p>
<p id="bPIazW">Larsen told <em>Verge </em>Science about the frustrating paradox regarding micrometeorites. “Everybody agreed upon that it was completely impossible to find the micrometeorites in populated areas of the world. And at the same time, everybody...</p>
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<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/5/18211112/meteorites-space-dust-micrometeorites-metal-rock-tiny-how-to-find">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/5/18211112/meteorites-space-dust-micrometeorites-metal-rock-tiny-how-to-findCory Zapatka2018-10-30T10:00:02-04:002018-10-30T10:00:02-04:00Decoding images from the Golden Record
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<figcaption>Alex Parkin</figcaption>
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<p id="34ZdWg">More than 11 billion miles away from Earth, two small discs are rocketing through space at speeds in excess of 37,200 miles per hour. Their journey started in 1977, when NASA sent the two Golden Records into space, bolted to the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft. The records contain a treasure trove of information about our home planet, including sounds, songs, and images from Earth. </p>
<p id="FPqsR7">At the moment, the records are just hangers-on to the Voyagers’ <a href="https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/interstellar-mission/">current mission</a>, to document the outer limits of the Sun’s influence on the Solar System. By 2030, however, both Voyagers will cease communicating with NASA, but they will continue sailing through space. At that point, they will have only one mission: continue on with the Golden Records in hopes that...</p>
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<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/30/18037984/golden-record-nasa-image-decode-voyager-1-2">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/30/18037984/golden-record-nasa-image-decode-voyager-1-2Cory Zapatka2018-05-15T10:00:02-04:002018-05-15T10:00:02-04:00Why are there so many different blood types?
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<p id="644WG2">Do you know your blood type? If you haven’t been in any medical situations where blood type is important, you might not. I certainly don’t, even though I’ve been fascinated with blood since I was a sophomore in high school.</p>
<p id="tLyJsZ">That year, I was diagnosed with <a href="https://medlineplus.gov/diabetestype1.html">Type 1 diabetes</a>. That meant, among many things, that I had to make myself bleed nearly every day as I monitored my blood sugar levels through a finger prick. (I now wear a monitor with an under-skin sensor that continuously checks my blood sugar, saving my fingers from so many pricks.) So when that same year, I learned how to use microscopes in science class, curiosity got the best of me: I took some of my blood and placed it under the microscope. The choreography of red and white blood...</p>
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<a href="https://www.theverge.com/science/2018/5/15/17353060/blood-types-history-mystery-video">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.theverge.com/science/2018/5/15/17353060/blood-types-history-mystery-videoCory Zapatka