If anyone knows about going fungal, it’s Paul Stamets. I have often wondered whether he has been infected with a fungus that fills… | Continue reading
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
If anyone knows about going fungal, it’s Paul Stamets. I have often wondered whether he has been infected with a fungus that fills… | Continue reading
Most of us are familiar with the much-maligned Western diet and its mainstay of processed food products found in the middle aisles… | Continue reading
Researchers predicted that people would consistently underrate how much they might benefit from talking on the phone.Photograph by… | Continue reading
As little as two centuries ago, the northern edge of the island of Borneo, home to Malaysia’s Sarawak state, was covered in a verdant… | Continue reading
Reprinted with permission from Quanta Magazine‘s Abstractions blog.Computer scientists are trying to build an AI system that can… | Continue reading
I was born on the summer solstice in an age without a name.My parents were born in a previous geological epoch. Six unknowing months… | Continue reading
Anyone who believes that life is a battlefield full of individual warriors should go out into the meadows on a spring night. There,… | Continue reading
I was born on the summer solstice in an age without a name.My parents were born in a previous geological epoch. Six unknowing months… | Continue reading
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
Anyone who believes that life is a battlefield full of individual warriors should go out into the meadows on a spring night. There,… | Continue reading
As little as two centuries ago, the northern edge of the island of Borneo, home to Malaysia’s Sarawak state, was covered in a verdant… | Continue reading
Intelligence is associated with coming up with more convincing bullshit and with being a better liar, but not associated with a better… | Continue reading
Intelligence is associated with coming up with more convincing bullshit and with being a better liar, but not associated with a better… | Continue reading
A few years ago, David Adger was in his office at Queen Mary University of London, where he is a professor of linguistics, when the… | Continue reading
Most of us, most of the time, think and act as though there are facts about good and bad, right and wrong. We think the predatory… | Continue reading
Acting on a dehumanizing ideology does not require fully believing that ideology.WikicommonsThe Nazis called Jews rats and lice. White… | Continue reading
One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit.” These are the opening words of the short book… | Continue reading
A few years ago, David Adger was in his office at Queen Mary University of London, where he is a professor of linguistics, when the… | Continue reading
Most of us, most of the time, think and act as though there are facts about good and bad, right and wrong. We think the predatory… | Continue reading
One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit.” These are the opening words of the short book… | Continue reading
Above our heads, the lights are going out. Instead of thousands of stars in the heavens, artificial light pollution means that in… | Continue reading
There’s a surprising natural rhythm to visiting other worlds. If you sit down with pencil, paper, and enough of an aptitude for… | Continue reading
The scientists crowded around Yuanchao Xue’s petri dish. They couldn’t identify the cells that they were seeing. “We saw a lot… | Continue reading
Any student of modern math must know what it feels like to drown in a well of telescoping terminology.For a high-profile example,… | Continue reading
The question “What is real?” is inescapable if you study quantum mechanics.Photo illustration by Nikk / FlickrQuantum mechanics… | Continue reading
The question “What is real?” is inescapable if you study quantum mechanics.Photo illustration by Nikk / FlickrQuantum mechanics… | Continue reading
The scientists crowded around Yuanchao Xue’s petri dish. They couldn’t identify the cells that they were seeing. “We saw a lot… | Continue reading
Any student of modern math must know what it feels like to drown in a well of telescoping terminology.For a high-profile example,… | Continue reading
There’s a surprising natural rhythm to visiting other worlds. If you sit down with pencil, paper, and enough of an aptitude for… | Continue reading
Above our heads, the lights are going out. Instead of thousands of stars in the heavens, artificial light pollution means that in… | Continue reading
The members of the physics institute at Via Panisperna were in the habit of giving themselves jocular nicknames: Enrico Fermi was… | Continue reading
The honesty and humility of someone willing to tell you that they don’t have all the answers, but they have some thoughtful questions… | Continue reading
The honesty and humility of someone willing to tell you that they don’t have all the answers, but they have some thoughtful questions… | Continue reading
In January, Robert Williams, an African-American man, was wrongfully arrested due to an inaccurate facial recognition algorithm, a… | Continue reading
What do anti-vaxxers and anti-GMO campaigners have in common? Underpinning both “antis” is a shared belief that because vaccines… | Continue reading
You might think that to become a better person, you should squelch your inner demons, suppress your darker impulses. That’s not… | Continue reading
Some of the most perplexing topics in physics revolve around quantum theory. The quandary is seen most famously in the Schrödinger’s… | Continue reading
If you want to understand the flamboyant family of objects that make up our solar system—from puny, sputtering comets to tremendous,… | Continue reading
You might think that to become a better person, you should squelch your inner demons, suppress your darker impulses. That’s not… | Continue reading
The honesty and humility of someone willing to tell you that they don’t have all the answers, but they have some thoughtful questions… | Continue reading
Some of the most perplexing topics in physics revolve around quantum theory. The quandary is seen most famously in the Schrödinger’s… | Continue reading
If you want to understand the flamboyant family of objects that make up our solar system—from puny, sputtering comets to tremendous,… | Continue reading
Some of the most perplexing topics in physics revolve around quantum theory. The quandary is seen most famously in the Schrödinger’s… | Continue reading
You might think that to become a better person, you should squelch your inner demons, suppress your darker impulses. That’s not… | Continue reading
If you want to understand the flamboyant family of objects that make up our solar system—from puny, sputtering comets to tremendous,… | Continue reading
You might think that to become a better person, you should squelch your inner demons, suppress your darker impulses. That’s not… | Continue reading