What This Drawing Taught Me About Four-Dimensional Spacetime (2017)

My aim as a theoretical physicist is to unite quantum theory with Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity. While there are a few… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 3 years ago

Time Flows Toward Order

The one law of physics that virtually all scientists believe will never be found to be wrong is the second law of thermodynamics.… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 3 years ago

Time Flows Toward Order - Issue 93: Forerunners

The one law of physics that virtually all scientists believe will never be found to be wrong is the second law of thermodynamics.… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 3 years ago

Person, Woman, Man, Camera, TV - Issue 93: Forerunners

Imagine that someone asked you to come up with a sequence of five words. In any other year, some idiosyncratic combination would likely… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 3 years ago

Five Scientists on the Heroes Who Changed Their Lives - Issue 93: Forerunners

The Man Who Loved PhysicsBy Alan Lightman Several years ago, I attended a Buddhist retreat in which I was introduced to the idea of… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 3 years ago

The Problem with a New Study on Mentorship in Science - Facts So Romantic

Arguably the best prescription to improve the situation facing women in science is for there to be more women in science.Oleg Golovnev… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 3 years ago

The word lox was one of the clues that eventually led linguists to discover who the Proto-Indo-Europeans were, and where they lived.Photograph… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 3 years ago

The word lox was one of the clues that eventually led linguists to discover who the Proto-Indo-Europeans were, and where they lived.Photograph… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 3 years ago

Do You Know These Scientific Pioneers?

It’s easy to name science and math geniuses. I can just flip open my old book from the 1960s, which lists “100 Great Scientists”;… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

A Supermassive Lens on the Constants of Nature

The 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics went to three researchers who confirmed that Einstein’s general relativity predicts black holes,… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

Einstein Reconciled Religion to Science

What Einstein said was nearly as scathing as any contemporary critique of religion you might hear from Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris,… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

A Supermassive Lens on the Constants of Nature

The 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics went to three researchers who confirmed that Einstein’s general relativity predicts black holes,… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

A Model for a Just COVID-19 Vaccination Program - Issue 93: Forerunners

Scientists have now produced apparently effective vaccines at sufficient scale to vaccinate most vulnerable populations in the United… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

Do You Know These Scientific Pioneers? - Issue 93: Forerunners

It’s easy to name science and math geniuses. I can just flip open my old book from the 1960s, which lists “100 Great Scientists”;… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

A Supermassive Lens on the Constants of Nature - Issue 93: Forerunners

The 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics went to three researchers who confirmed that Einstein’s general relativity predicts black holes,… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

Einstein Reconciled Religion to Science

What Einstein said was nearly as scathing as any contemporary critique of religion you might hear from Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris,… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

How Einstein Reconciled Religion to Science - Facts So Romantic

What Einstein said was nearly as scathing as any contemporary critique of religion you might hear from Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris,… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

When Einstein Tilted at Windmills

When they met, Einstein wasn’t Einstein yet. He was just Albert Einstein, a kid, about 17, with a dark cloud of teenage angst and… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

When Science Was the Best Show in America

On May 29, 1810, Katherine Fritsch, a sister in the Moravian Church, boarded a coach in Lititz, Pennsylvania, along with a group of… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

The Synchronicity of Wolfgang Pauli and Carl Jung

By the end of 1930, Austrian-born theoretical physicist Wolfgang Pauli was at the height of his achievements, yet an absolute emotional… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

Scientists Analyzed 24,000 Chess Matches to Understand Cognition

Chess offers a unique opportunity. It could perhaps be the ultimate window through which we might see how our mental powers shift… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

Scientists Analyzed 24,000 Chess Matches to Understand Cognition - Facts So Romantic

 Chess offers a unique opportunity. It could perhaps be the ultimate window through which we might see how our mental powers… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

When Science Was the Best Show in America

On May 29, 1810, Katherine Fritsch, a sister in the Moravian Church, boarded a coach in Lititz, Pennsylvania, along with a group of… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

The Synchronicity of Wolfgang Pauli and Carl Jung - Issue 93: Forerunners

By the end of 1930, Austrian-born theoretical physicist Wolfgang Pauli was at the height of his achievements, yet an absolute emotional… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

When Einstein Tilted at Windmills - Issue 93: Forerunners

When they met, Einstein wasn’t Einstein yet. He was just Albert Einstein, a kid, about 17, with a dark cloud of teenage angst and… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

When Science Was the Best Show in America - Issue 93: Forerunners

On May 29, 1810, Katherine Fritsch, a sister in the Moravian Church, boarded a coach in Lititz, Pennsylvania, along with a group of… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

What You Can Learn from Living in Antarctica

Joe Pettit is a person of contradictions. A lover of solitude who manages teams, an engineer who writes poetry and paints, a family… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

Why America Is Ripe for Election Conspiracy Theorizing - Facts So Romantic

Political life is increasingly sectarian, unhinged from the reality and magnitude of policy disagreements.“Foundation of the… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

Why Your Brain’s Sense of Time Is So Elastic

Reprinted with permission from Quanta Magazine’s Abstractions blog.New research finds that the subjective experience of time is… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

We Judge People Based on Their Relatives

While Jimmy Carter was president of the United States, his younger brother, Billy, a brewer, endorsed Billy Beer, which featured his… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

Are We Wired to Be Outside?

Hiking the Franconia Ridge Loop is an intimidating proposition. The trail, in the heart of New Hampshire’s White Mountain National… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

Why So Many Bog Bodies Show Signs of Violent Death

Who will say ‘corpse’ to his vivid cast?
 Who will say ‘body’ to his opaque repose? —Seamus Heaney, “Grauballe Man”… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

Why Your Brain’s Sense of Time Is So Elastic - Facts So Romantic

Reprinted with permission from Quanta Magazine’s Abstractions blog.New research finds that the subjective experience of time is… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

Are We Wired to Be Outside? - Issue 92: Frontiers

Hiking the Franconia Ridge Loop is an intimidating proposition. The trail, in the heart of New Hampshire’s White Mountain National… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

These Photos Remind Us Why Conservation Matters - Issue 92: Frontiers

The election of Joe Biden is the best thing to happen to conservation in the past four years. It won’t be easy to undo the damage… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

What You Can Learn from Living in Antarctica - Issue 92: Frontiers

Joe Pettit is a person of contradictions. A lover of solitude who manages teams, an engineer who writes poetry and paints, a family… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

Why We Judge People Based on Their Relatives - Facts So Romantic

While Jimmy Carter was president of the United States, his younger brother, Billy, a brewer, endorsed Billy Beer, which featured his… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

The English Word That Hasn’t Changed in Sound or Meaning in 8k Years

The word lox was one of the clues that eventually led linguists to discover who the Proto-Indo-Europeans were, and where they lived.Photograph… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

The English Word That Hasn’t Changed in Sound or Meaning in 8,000 Years - Facts So Romantic

The word lox was one of the clues that eventually led linguists to discover who the Proto-Indo-Europeans were, and where they lived.Photograph… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

We Never Know Where We’re Going in Outer Space

In the early 1960s, during the space race, neither American nor Soviet scientists really knew where planets like Mars or Venus were—especially… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

The Joys of Being a Stoic

In September, a writer for HBO’s Watchmen series, Cord Jefferson, was awarded an Emmy. I enjoyed the show’s first season, a sequel… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

What Makes Baby Yoda So Lovable?

The ways in which this creature’s creators have successfully modeled him on human attributes can offer insights into how and why… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

The Joys of Being a Stoic - Issue 92: Frontiers

In September, a writer for HBO’s Watchmen series, Cord Jefferson, was awarded an Emmy. I enjoyed the show’s first season, a sequel… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

New Veggies for a Warming Planet - Issue 92: Frontiers

When you bite into an ear of fresh corn, you are eating something profoundly unnatural. A modern ear is a big, flavorful thing packed… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

We Never Know Exactly Where We’re Going in Outer Space - Issue 92: Frontiers

In the early 1960s, during the space race, neither American nor Soviet scientists really knew where planets like Mars or Venus were—especially… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

What Makes Baby Yoda So Lovable? - Facts So Romantic

The ways in which this creature’s creators have successfully modeled him on human attributes can offer insights into how and why… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

Preserving a Sense of Wonder in DNA

Not long ago, Joe Davis, the “artist-scientist” in George Church’s genetics lab at Harvard Medical School, was in Brittany,… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

How to Stop Feeling Crushed for Time

Sparingly these days do I find myself thinking I’ve got some time to kill. Time has a way of making itself scarce. I’m like some… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago