Singularities frustrate our understanding. But behind every singularity in physics hides a secret door to a new understanding of the world.
Morbid fatality statistics on digital highway signs seem to distract drivers, thus increasing the number of car crashes.
It didn’t look like anything I’d seen before, but I’d be a great fool to consider “aliens” as a reasonable possibility.
Today, we could use Big Data to radically reform democracy. Tomorrow, we could build nanofabricators and usher in an era of abundance. Is society ready?
Nanofabricators could quickly synthesize whatever we need, molecule by molecule.
Volcanic activity caused the end-Triassic mass extinction 200 million years ago. The dinosaurs survived and rose to dominance.
We take for granted that time is real. But what if it’s only an illusion, and a relative illusion at that? Does time even exist?
Elon Musk’s successful bid to take over Twitter has fragmented the internet along predictably partisan lines. But only time will tell whether this is a good or bad thing.
There is strong evidence that invertebrates are sentient beings.
It may depend on whether you’re an “easily empathetically embarrassed” person.
People underestimate their opponent’s capacity to feel basic human sensations. We can short-circuit this impulse through moral reframing and perspective taking.
The metaverse may leave us perpetually unsure whether the people we encounter are authentic or high-quality fakes.
Spin, spin, spin — fire! The startup’s radical system could make satellite launches cheaper and cleaner.
Majoring in economics can boost a graduate’s early-career income by several thousand dollars, at least for those who live in California.
Shoving platelet-rich plasma up your nose might restore your sense of smell after COVID. But whether it actually works still needs to be sniffed out.
Moral dilemmas reveal the limitations of ethical principles. Oddly, the most principled belief system might not have any principles at all.
Ancient helium-3 from the dawn of time leaks from the Earth, offering clues to our planet’s formation. A key question is where it leaks from.
A small percentage of people who consume psychedelics experience strange lingering effects, sometimes years after they took the drug.
AI-generated photos, also known as synthetic media, are being used to create fake experts and journalists to spread disinformation.
You’ve spent almost a decade gaining extremely specialized skills. But that’s ok; your value is greater than you realize.
After mammoth investments and two decades of anti-aging research, what do immortality proponents have to show for it?
Realism in science cannot be completely unmoored from human experience. Otherwise, realism ends up tortured with unreal paradoxes.
“Immodest Acts” tells the story of Benedetta Carlini, a lesbian nun who claimed to be a mystic visionary but failed to convince the leaders of her faith.
When making any tough decision, the key is not to be overly exploratory or exploitative.
Behavioral interventions may be better for long-term health.
How efficiently could quantum engines operate?
Spirals, ellipticals, and irregulars are all more common than ring galaxies. At last, we know how these ultra-rare objects are made.
Inflection points veer life in unexpected directions. While unnerving, they provide opportunities for those who can navigate them.
Satire and an inflated sense of self-importance collide in a series of maps that goes back more than 100 years in American history.