PROFILES
These are shorter pieces focused on a fascinating person, group or culture.
The Wall Street Journal
Apollo's Code: Meet the Computer Programmer Who Landed Us on the Moon
Perhaps the most dramatic moment of Apollo 11's mission to the moon was when the Eagle began its final descent to the lunar surface and the ship's computer became overloaded. Few were more nervous than the young computer programmer who had written the code for the landing. On the Apollo 11's 50th anniversary, WSJ sat down with programmer Don Eyles. Photo: Alexander Hotz/WSJ
The Wall Street Journal | Published on July 17, 2019
Cold Pursuits: A Scientist's Quest to Uncover Antarctica's Secrets
For three decades scientist Peter Doran has collected environmental data in Antarctica. This year he is leading a project that uses aerial sensors to probe beneath the surface of vast glaciers.
Wall Street Journal | Published on December 29, 2018
Art World’s Newest Star Makes $3 Million Paintings.
Njideka Akunyili Crosby, one of the young stars of the contemporary art world, talks about her influences at her studio in Los Angeles.
Wall Street Journal | Published on September 21, 2018
GREAT BIG STORY (CNN)
One Step at a Time: The First Elephant Prosthetics
When Mosha, an elephant, was two years old, she lost her leg in a landmine injury along the Thai-Burmese border. Luckily, an orthopedic surgeon was able to fit her with the first prosthetic leg ever designed for an elephant. As she’s grown, she’s needed to be fitted for new ones. But she’s never forgotten the doctor who changed her life.
Meet a Metal Thrasher Turned Virtuoso Watchmaker
Dan Spitz, who played lead guitar for the metal band Anthrax, left the group in the '90s to pursue an unexpected path: master watchmaking. Now, he's one of the top watchmakers in the world, but can still shred a guitar like it's 1983.
The Concrete Cowboys of Philidelphia
For the past decade, Malik Divers has run a small Philadelphia stable where he trains teenagers to ride and keep horses. Divers says that the horses keep kids off the streets and teach them responsibility. For 18-year-old Shahir Drayton, riding has even become an essential form of therapy.
I Wayan Mudana | One of Bali’s last master woodcarvers
I Wayan Mudana, one of Bali's last traditional woodcarvers, sometimes takes over a year to complete a sculpture. He prays and meditates before beginning a project, seeking inspiration for the story that lives in each unique piece of wood. Watch our original video on this beautiful but dying art from the Island of the Gods.
On The Edge Of Genocide | One man's fight to preserve Myanmar's Rohingya
U Kyaw Hla Aung is a community leader and human rights activist desperately trying to alert the world to the plight of his people - the Rohingya. Despite evidence that the Rohingya have lived in Myanmar for centuries, the government classifies the group as illegal aliens. Today most Rohingya in Myanmar live in tragically overcrowded and unsanitary refugee camps.
Fishing for Hope
This is the story of Adi, a fisherman in the remote village of Tumbang Nusa in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Before I met him, Adi and his fellow fishermen had forgone their livelihoods for over a month because of the thick toxic haze that blanketed their village. Fortuitously, on the day I arrived to film, the haze had dissipated enough for Adi to get back on the water.