Life
All Stories
Max Tegmark says we’re smart enough to make it. But are we wise enough?
▸
with
When you’re in a midlife crisis, success can seem like failure.
Do our minds have quantum structures that give rise to consciousness? Sir Roger Penrose, one of the world’s most famous scientists, believes this and can explain how he thinks it works.
How do you go from background extra to leading man? Listen to acting legend Bryan Cranston’s pragmatic advice.
▸
4 min
—
with
The acting giant talks about how those in the corporate and business worlds could take a page from artists… simply by embracing a reward system not rooted in hard metrics.
▸
5 min
—
with
Viral video raises ethical questions about weaponized drones.
▸
with
Have you ever wondered why modern-day mammals have adaptations for nighttime activity? A new study suggests dinosaurs might be the reason.
Capitalism has hijacked our emotions and rewired us for instant gratification—but we can reclaim our lives by practicing deep hope.
▸
5 min
—
with
French researchers recently roused a patient out of a vegetative state.
U.S. scientists have successfully repaired DNA in a human embryo for the first time.
Can you have hope in the face of death? For believers this is somewhat easier, but non-theists require a different set of philosophical tools.
▸
11 min
—
with
The World Science Festival just wrapped earlier this month. Here’s 4 top World Science Festival sessions that ORBITER recommends.
▸
with
Exploring the ramifications of consciousness in alien life.
A cataclysmic event in our past may have led to this situation.
Ever heard a story that made you sick to your stomach? There is neurological wizardry at work that makes our sense of morality so visceral—and flawed.
▸
5 min
—
with
A chorus of new science is showing that evolution has orchestrated life to leave no room for solos. A grander view of life is revealing higher-level, need-centric relational logic patterns (as in David Haskell’s The Songs of Trees).
The state of nature isn’t a “war of all against all.” Even no-brainer bacteria “know” that sometimes the game is “Survival of the Friendliest”
A Swiss scientist identifies the top predator in the world in a new study.
The biologists who revealed why zebras have black-and-white stripes now also have a theory on the black-and-white fur of giant pandas.
Altered states of consciousness are documented across cultures, from shamans to Silicon Valley coders. As different as these experiences seem, there are four neurological features they all have in common.
▸
5 min
—
with
Jonathon Keats proposes a “Reciprocal Biomimicry Initiative” to help return the favor after taking so many great ideas from them.
Descartes’ solitary, inward-facing mindset misconstrues the social nature of our thinking. Social Cartesianism better captures the soul of what matters in distinguishing humans from animals or machines.
Cheetahs and giraffes have been placed on the conservation “red list” due to collapsing populations.
Trees are far from dumb; they talk and share, because they need each other to live better lives.
Humans are not the most murderous creature on this planet. A recent study has laid out the rates of death and found meerkats to be the most lethal.
Natural disasters claim many more victims than terrorism, so why is funding in Europe and North America so out of balance? This negligence makes Neil deGrasse Tyson “embarrassed for our species”.
Our picture of life is going through a major shift. Ed Yong’s book I Contain Multitudes reveals that a genome generally doesn’t contain all the genes an organism needs. Symbiosis isn’t rare, it’s the rule. And we’re just the icing on life’s vast microbial cake.
Japanese doctors reveal how AI software helped save the life of a cancer patient.
The man who lives a functional life with most of his brain filled with water challenges what we know about the brain.