Features

  Husum / AP “I’m an athlete, not an adventurer,” says Freya Hoffmeister. But the journeys the extreme paddler undertakes are nothing if not adventurous – and dangerous. Paddling across the estuary of the Amazon in South America on one expedition she was “washed out” of her canoe by the “pororoca,” a tidal wave that can reach heights of 5 ...

  AP Work out while waiting for your flight? That’s an option now at Baltimore Washington International Airport, where the only gym at a U.S. airport past security opened this week with plans to open 20 more at airports by 2020. It’s the latest example of how fitness and health trends have started showing up at airports. Yoga rooms and ...

  Oberhausen / AP Artist and professor Guenter Fruhtrunk later apologized to his students for designing the logo for Aldi, the discount German supermarket chain that now has 7,000 stores on three continents. Back then, as it is now, it was regarded as unseemly for artists to be serving the interests of capitalism or to make art into bulk commodities ...

  Paris / DPA The plans that Airbus has for a factory in Florida are nothing short of revolutionary for the European aviation giant‘s satellite business. “In a good year up till now we haven’t built more than 10 satellites,” says Nicolas Chamussy, who was appointed as Airbus’ space chief last year. “We’re going to produce two satellites a day ...

  BOSTON / AP Where are the trees? More important, where aren’t the trees? A lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is helping some of the world’s cities answer both questions in an attempt to make them more pleasant places to live and work. In an effort to enhance the critical role trees play in urban environments — providing ...

  Cuxhaven / DPA “Ten minutes of playtime for the captain!” announces Commander Markus Venker over the ship-wide loudspeaker system. Actually, it’s a warning for the crew to hold on very tight. Then Venker, captain of the newest and most modern ship in the German Navy, shows what his big baby can do in clear weather but rough seas off ...

  Washington / DPA Scientists of all stripes have appeared as characters in movies and TV shows: from the meglomaniacal Dr Frankenstein, to archaeologist adventurer Indiana Jones, the “Back to the Future” time-machine inventor Doc Brown and the palaeontologists in dinosaur-filled “Jurassic Park.” But rarely has scientific accuracy in an entertainment medium been so carefully researched as in the popular ...

  Bamberg / DPA When Annemarie Sommer enters the seminar room she’s convinced that in order to be a YouTube sensation, you have to do things others wouldn’t think of doing. When the 15-year-old leaves, she knows that in fact, YouTube stars don’t necessarily have the best videos – but they are the best connected. “How to Become a Rockstar ...

  Kitzbuehel / DPA Without my poles I would have been lost. I was using all my strength to push them into the slope and pull myself up. I had no idea the competition would be so hard. I was taking part in order to conquer one of the most dangerous ski runs in the world, the “Streif” in Austria’s ...

  Ulm / DPA Landmines are notoriously difficult to clear away. Deminers have to bravely probe the ground, putting themselves in mortal danger. Explosives dogs are expensive to train. And if caterpillar-tracked vehicles are used to detonate the mines, they ruin the whole area in the process. Researchers are now investigating whether drones could be used to hunt for the deadly ...