Evolutionary pressures drove the formation of tribes who encoded their values in myths and symbols. Was this cooperation cursed?
Remember Stephen Hawking’s robotic voice? It wasn’t a robot.
May 30, 2023
The title is a quote from William Carlos Williams. Oceans are the focus of this crossword puzzle. They form over 70% of Earth’s surface, and about 97% of Earth’s water can be found in them. Yet, in various ways, man is threatening this incredible ecosystem.
The concept of ‘relativistic mass’ has been around almost as long as relativity has. But is it a reasonable way to make sense of things?
Before Constantine received his history-defining vision, a pagan Sun god paved the way for Jesus Christ’s triumphal entry into the Eternal City.
A part of human nature needs to be challenged and feel strong. Today, we fulfill that need with “surrogate activities.”
Memorial day is a time to remember veterans killed in the line of service. These spaceflight heroes deserve to be remembered, too.
If we took the values and principles of cooperation to the next level, we could effectively tackle many crises.
From forgotten Hollywood movies to Frank Herbert’s “Dune,” science fiction illustrates some of our deepest fears about technology.
Plants at room temperature show properties we had only seen near absolute zero.
It’s the paradoxical observation that the more we try to process, the less we actually can.
A philosophy of birth can offset the prevailing narrative around extinction and mortality.
“Groupthink” gets a bad rap. In reality, we need groups to focus our thinking and to build on the ideas of others.
We commonly stereotype psychopaths as criminals, but there are probably more in upper management.
Science can’t stop aging, but it may be able to slow our epigenetic clocks.
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Particle physicists use gigantic accelerators to investigate the infinitesimal.
It’s been 100 years since we discovered that the Universe was expanding. But if it’s expanding, then what is it expanding into?
The dying brain experiences a surge of electrical activity. Could this help explain the mysterious phenomena of near-death experiences?
In a time when we dislike and distrust our politicians, why can’t we get more popular leaders like Kim Jong Un and Bashar al-Assad?
Walking is rarer in the U.S. compared to similar nations. It is also deadlier: Nearly 7,500 pedestrians were killed in 2021.
Emotion dysregulation has been linked to unhealthy risk-taking, relationship challenges, and negative physical health outcomes.
Mansa Musa, perhaps history’s richest man, claims he ascended the throne of Mali after his predecessor sailed west and never came back. Could he have made it to the New World?
If our Universe were born a little differently, there wouldn’t have been any planets, stars, galaxies, or chemically interesting reactions.
Perhaps the whole Universe is the result of a vacuum fluctuation, originating from what we could call quantum nothingness.
Germans are masters of building cars, cooking brats — and sitting while peeing.
“Superhabitable” planets might be real, but Earth is probably as good as it gets.
Science fiction movies capture a classic human flaw: getting the future mostly wrong.
Not all conflict is bad. Expert Priya Parker explains how “heat” can be harnessed for good.
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Across all wavelengths of light, the Sun is brighter than the Moon. Until we went to the highest energies and saw a gamma-ray surprise.
Meditation can put you in a wiser relationship with life.