John Asante

The Takeaway
Taxes

How we could simplify the American tax filing process

Economics

If you’re still working on your taxes, you’re probably not alone: Americans will spend more than 6 billion hours preparing their taxes, which includes digging up W-2s, sifting through receipts, and filling out any number of forms. The amount we spend to get it done by firms or by ourselves with software is high.

Bracket

Here are some handy tips for your NCAA tournament bracket

Sports
SXSW

Here’s how to experience SXSW from your living room

Arts
The World

Alec Baldwin says he’s having the time of his life — impersonating President-elect Donald Trump

Arts
Medical stretchers are seen abandoned along the corridors at the main hospital during a strike

Kenya tries to come to grips with treating mental illness

Health
Tulsa Race Riot of 1921

The racial tensions in Tulsa have deep roots

Conflict

The shooting of an unarmed black man by a white Tulsa police officer is just the latest example of that city’s trouble racial past.

An animation from Ema Ryan Yamazaki’s documentary

Happy Curiosity Day, Curious George

Culture

It’s the 75th anniversary of the creation of Curious George — and the story of his creation is almost as good as the stories of Curious George.

Handwriting is dying a slow death

Culture

“The digital revolution is both launching us into a no-handwriting future, and also sending us backwards in time to when the spoken word ruled,” says the author of a new book.

Our closest galactic neighbor may also have a habitable planet

Science

The discovery of a planet in the “goldilocks zone” of Proxima Cantauri, the star closest to our own sun, gives new hope to the quest to find life outside our solar system.

Boyan Slat

Meet the 22-year-old with a big idea for cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Environment

For the past six years, 22-year-old Boyan Slat has been working to perfect a way to filter vast amounts of plastics out of the world’s oceans. He has a prototype now that might just prove successful.For the past six years, 22-year-old Boyan Slat has been working to perfect a way to filter vast amounts of plastics out of the world’s oceans. He has a prototype now that might just prove successful.