Six visionary science fiction authors on the social impact of their work.
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From the explosions themselves to their unique and vibrant colors, the fireworks displays we adore require quantum physics.
Any dataset that can be quantified over time can be turned into a contest that is both exciting and (a little bit) enlightening.
Thinking about the problem of meaning is unsettling because it introduces us to a list of solutions that all feel a bit insane.
Even though no human has stepped foot on the Moon’s surface in 50 years, the evidence of our presence there remains unambiguous.
The poisoned candy legend is just one way that American fears manifested: as an easily understood threat to innocence.
A group of prominent scientists shares how research has changed them.
Shame is a powerful tool that must be used with care.
The last 70 years have taken us farther than the previous 70,000. But can we accomplish more than creating a record saying, “We were here?”
After my father died, my journey of rediscovery began with the Czech language.
Serving as the inspiration for the modern horror classic “The Blair Witch Project,” what does our fascination with this unsolvable mystery tell us about our modern psyche?
The world isn’t ending! But we are likely at the beginning of a profound transformation.
The universe is filled with unlikely events, but is also full of ways to fool ourselves.
To do more, it sometimes pays to do nothing at all.
After the German election, will the nation continue to “muddle through” successfully enough to lead Europe?
For the ancients, hospitality was an inviolable law enforced by gods and priests and anyone else with the power to make you pay dearly for mistreating a stranger.
By toppling medieval Europe’s mightiest political power, the Protestant Reformation ushered in a new age of freedom, religious and otherwise.
Our greatest tool for exploring the world inside atoms and molecules, and specifically electron transitions, just won 2023’s Nobel Prize.
“Immodest Acts” tells the story of Benedetta Carlini, a lesbian nun who claimed to be a mystic visionary but failed to convince the leaders of her faith.
“You gotta know when to fold ’em.”
There is no sure-fire formula for success, but you can be better prepared to create your own.
The German thinker wrote both treatises and songs. He approached each form of expression with the same level of interest.
Although mammals may be the dominant form of life today, we’re relative newcomers on planet Earth. Here’s our place in natural history.
New ideas inevitably face opposition. A new book called “The Human Element” argues that overcoming opposition requires understanding the concepts of “Fuel” and “Friction.”
The underground burial tombs were used at least as far back as 2500 B.C.
Plants are very sensitive to touch, with research showing that touching a plant can change its genome and launch a cascade of plant hormones.
For some people, the emotional pull of fictional characters is profoundly strong.
A puzzling — and huge — break in the geological record finally might be explained.
Nobel Laureate Roger Penrose, famed for his work on black holes, claims we’ve seen evidence from a prior Universe. Only, we haven’t.