Eugenics Shaped Statistics

In early 2018, officials at University College London were shocked to learn that meetings organized by “race scientists” and neo-Nazis,… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

How Eugenics Shaped Statistics - Issue 92: Frontiers

In early 2018, officials at University College London were shocked to learn that meetings organized by “race scientists” and neo-Nazis,… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

Preserving a Sense of Wonder in DNA - Issue 92: Frontiers

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 - Issue 92: Frontiers

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

The Simple Dutch Cure for Stress

“Uitwaaien” is a popular activity around Amsterdam—one believed to have important psychological benefits.Photograph by John… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

Are the Brain’s Electromagnetic Fields the Seat of Consciousness?

Some neuroscientists have long considered the brain’s oscillating electromagnetic fields to be interesting but merely “epiphenomenal”… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

Are the Brain’s Electromagnetic Fields the Seat of Consciousness? - Facts So Romantic

Some neuroscientists have long considered the brain’s oscillating electromagnetic fields to be interesting but merely “epiphenomenal”… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

Brain Makes You a Different Person Every Day

Brain “plasticity” is one of the great discoveries in modern science, but neuroscientist David Eagleman thinks the word is misleading.… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

The Simple Dutch Cure for Stress - Facts So Romantic

“Uitwaaien” is a popular activity around Amsterdam—one believed to have important psychological benefits.Photograph by John… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

The Self-Driving Car Is a Red Herring

Ten years ago this fall, Google gave us a glimpse of a new device unlike any it had ever built before—a computer-controlled car.… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

Why Physics Can’t Tell Us What Life Is

There is just something obviously reasonable about the following notion: If all life is built from atoms that obey precise equations… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

Behavioral Contagion Is Boosting Biden’s Presidential Prospects - Facts So Romantic

That Trump’s ship is sinking is now a widespread public perception.Photograph by Gage Skidmore / FlickrDuring the pandemic,… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

The Self-Driving Car Is a Red Herring - Issue 92: Frontiers

Ten years ago this fall, Google gave us a glimpse of a new device unlike any it had ever built before—a computer-controlled car.… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

Why Physics Can’t Tell Us What Life Is - Issue 92: Frontiers

There is just something obviously reasonable about the following notion: If all life is built from atoms that obey precise equations… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

The Physicist’s New Book of Life - Issue 92: Frontiers

Who is Jeremy England? There are many answers to that question. He is a biochemistry graduate who became an MIT assistant professor… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

The App That Offers Cosmic Awe

Like any good version of Powers of Ten, use this app and you can find yourself getting that feeling of cosmic awe—it might take… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

The App That Offers Cosmic Awe - Facts So Romantic

Like any good version of Powers of Ten, use this app and you can find yourself getting that feeling of cosmic awe—it might take… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

The Brain

The Brain is wider than the Sky” is a line as famous now in neuroscience as in poetry. It’s invoked to represent the network of… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

Brain Turns Off Your Inner Critic

Don’t look at the clock! Now tell me: How much time has passed since you first logged on to your computer today? Time may be a property… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

Our Mind-Boggling Sense of Smell

You might say the brain is our most photogenic organ. We are, thanks to modern neuroimaging, living amid an explosion of brain data.… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

Brain Makes You a Different Person Every Day

Brain “plasticity” is one of the great discoveries in modern science, but neuroscientist David Eagleman thinks the word is misleading.… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

The Importance of Face Masks and the Tragedy of Downplaying Them

Let’s start all over again about face masks. The noise about them is a Judas Priest blare. Can we turn down the volume for a moment?… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

Your Brain Makes You a Different Person Every Day - Issue 91: The Amazing Brain

Brain “plasticity” is one of the great discoveries in modern science, but neuroscientist David Eagleman thinks the word is misleading.… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

Our Mind-Boggling Sense of Smell - Issue 91: The Amazing Brain

You might say the brain is our most photogenic organ. We are, thanks to modern neuroimaging, living amid an explosion of brain data.… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

The Neurology of Flow States - Issue 91: The Amazing Brain

Don’t look at the clock! Now tell me: How much time has passed since you first logged on to your computer today? Time may be a property… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

The Psychic Toll of Severing the Hunter-Prey Relationship - Facts So Romantic

Yukaghir hunters of Siberia would address the bear as “Grandfather” and apologize to their spirit for the killing.Wellcome Images… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

Build Your Own Artificial Neural Network

The first artificial neural networks weren’t abstractions inside a computer, but actual physical systems made of whirring motors… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

Imitation Is the Sincerest Form of Environmentalism

As the rains return to the Pacific Northwest, so do the mushrooms. Fine mist drips from the crowns of evergreens, through the mosses… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

Kim Stanley Robinson: why climate change doesn’t have to be humanity’s end

There’s something about stories. We cherish them. Teach them. Pass them down to the next generation. Stories create a sacred space… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

Kim Stanley Robinson Holds Out Hope - Issue 90: Something Green

There’s something about stories. We cherish them. Teach them. Pass them down to the next generation. Stories create a sacred space… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

Los Angeles Is Gone - Issue 90: Something Green

I was in my apartment in Sierra Madre, which is a little town lined by tall palm trees, wedged between Pasadena and Azusa, set right… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

The Greening of Antarctica - Issue 90: Something Green

If Antarctica had a voice, it would be Jim McClintock. The marine biologist has been narrating the story of the changing continent… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

Imitation Is the Sincerest Form of Environmentalism - Issue 90: Something Green

As the rains return to the Pacific Northwest, so do the mushrooms. Fine mist drips from the crowns of evergreens, through the mosses… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

It Pays to Be a Space Case

Kieran Fox, a neuroscientist, says some of his colleagues see him as an “alien” because of all the time he takes off to let his… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

It Pays to Be a Space Case - Facts So Romantic

Kieran Fox, a neuroscientist, says some of his colleagues see him as an “alien” because of all the time he takes off to let his… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

When Plants Go to War

Compared to the hectic rush of our bipedal world, a plant’s life may appear an oasis of tranquility. But look a little closer. The… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

Does Social Media Poison Everything? - Facts So Romantic

The argument that we have the power to deal with the dangers of social media entirely on our own terms can come across as cruelly… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

Thank You for the 7 PM Clapping, But Camaraderie Is Needed More Than Ever - Facts So Romantic

Handwashing, mask-wearing and physical distancing are the easy part. The true challenge is to face the pain and suffering that exists… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

Psilocybin Can Save the Environment

Last week, biologist and writer Merlin Sheldrake introduced Nautilus readers to Paul Stamets, a mycologist who preaches that mushrooms… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

Could “Probiotic Epidemics” Influence Evolution?

Eugene Rosenberg, a coral microbiologist, ran into a rather large problem in the early 2000s. While working at the University of Tel… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

We Should Eat Crickets. and Other Bug Ideas

As the human population expands, we are going to have to find better ways to feed ourselves without further decimating the environment.Photograph… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

Why We Should Eat Crickets. And Other Bug Ideas - Facts So Romantic

As the human population expands, we are going to have to find better ways to feed ourselves without further decimating the environment.Photograph… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

When Evolution Is Infectious - Issue 90: Something Green

Eugene Rosenberg, a coral microbiologist, ran into a rather large problem in the early 2000s. While working at the University of Tel… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

The Human Error Darwin Inspired - Issue 90: Something Green

Since its publication in 1859, Darwin’s On the Origin of Species has been read as a blow to the hubris of Homo sapiens. We aren’t… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

How Psilocybin Can Save the Environment - Issue 90: Something Green

Last week, biologist and writer Merlin Sheldrake introduced Nautilus readers to Paul Stamets, a mycologist who preaches that mushrooms… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

Build Your Own Artificial Neural Network. It’s Easy

The first artificial neural networks weren’t abstractions inside a computer, but actual physical systems made of whirring motors… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

Build Your Own Artificial Neural Network. It’s Easy! - Facts So Romantic

The first artificial neural networks weren’t abstractions inside a computer, but actual physical systems made of whirring motors… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago

Schrödinger’s Cat When Nobody Is Looking

Some of the most perplexing topics in physics revolve around quantum theory. The quandary is seen most famously in the Schrödinger’s… | Continue reading


@nautil.us | 4 years ago