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Delirium is one of the most perplexing deathbed phenomena, exposing the gap between our cultural ideals of dying words and the reality of a disoriented mind.

Here’s why scary stories were once an integral part of Christmas Eve festivities.

The natural world evolved many pop culture frights long before storytellers used them to terrify us.

These short books offer insights and meditations on timeless themes, without the time commitment.

Science writer Matt Ridley joins us to discuss how “Darwin’s strangest idea” makes us all a bit feather-brained (in a good way).

We need to fully acknowledge problems, while vigorously pursuing solutions. Call it “solutionism.”

Recent controversies bode ill for the effort to detect life on other planets by analyzing the gases in their atmospheres.

From surviving on wild plants and game to controlling our world with technology, humanity’s journey of progress is a story of expanding human agency.

The world needs a moral defense of progress based in humanism and agency.

The fellowship’s journey through Middle-earth mirrors the modernization of the English countryside.

You’ve got to know when to fight and when to laugh.

It’s 50% stronger than comparable materials used in aerospace.

Although human beings arrived on Earth just ~300,000 years ago, we’ve transformed the entire planet completely. Here’s how we did it.

Long overlooked, menstrual stem cells could have important medical applications, including diagnosing endometriosis

“Burke’s the butcher, Hare’s the thief, and Knox the man who buys the beef.” Read the story of 19th-century Scotland’s corpse dealers.

Six authors, six monumental legacies, and a unique thread connecting them: a solitary novel that shines brightly.

Reading classic books can inform you as much about the present as the past.

Some classic books, like Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” remain controversial to this day.

Take a trip through these master-crafted fantasy societies and ask yourself: Could I actually live there?

An innovation’s value is found between the technophile’s promises and the Luddite’s doomsday scenarios.

Deep underwater, temperatures are close to freezing and the pressure is 1,000 times higher than at sea level.

The vaccine provided protection for mouse and ferret models.

The shift from steam to electricity was inevitable — but some foresaw it earlier than others.

We might be dining on insect-based Christmas pies with robot-harvested algae on the side.

The most important events in history have nothing to do with politics or wars.

Synthetic milk is not a sci-fi fantasy; it already exists.

Forget about Tinkerbell.

How efficiently could quantum engines operate?

Assume we can make new thylacines, mammoths, diprotodons, or sabre-tooth cats. Great. Now where do we put them?