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It’s not just fun: DNA origami has the potential to revolutionize engineering at the nanoscopic scale.

The cathedral is being explored as never before.

While one may be helpful, the other may be harmful.

A cute mathematical trick can “rescale” the Universe so that it isn’t actually expanding. But can that “trick” survive all our cosmic tests?

These high-mass, rapidly star-forming galaxies have called modern cosmology into question. But hi-res simulations show no tension at all.

Will we ever unravel the mystery of consciousness? Two academics made a 25-year bet on it. The scientist lost.

Even with the best technology imaginable, you’d probably never be able to exist as a consciously aware brain in a vat.

How do “you” emerge from a collection of cells? A biologist explains.

A unique combination of DNA and silica is the strongest known material for its density (but you’ll need a lot of it before you can build a suit from it).

Smarter building materials can control indoor temperatures without external power.

While ice itself is slick, slippery, and difficult to navigate across under most circumstances, skaters easily glide across the ice.

You can’t farm spiders — but putting spider genes into silkworms works even better.

Symmetrical objects are less complex than non-symmetrical ones. Perhaps evolution acts as an algorithm with a bias toward simplicity.

The new corporate landscape demands an approach to leadership based on empowering the “inner CEO.”

Quantum wormholes are mathematically possible — but might also be physically impossible. Physicist Janna Levin explains Hawking’s famous information paradox.

The Universe’s history, from cosmic inflation to the Big Bang to the present, is known. But whether it’s infinite or not is still a mystery.

Lab experiments showed Caribbean box jellyfish are quick studies of their environment.

Male inequality — the enormous cultural shift happening right under our nose.

If the “self” is not real, then we are slaves to a billiard ball universe, trapped in a nihilistic nightmare in which we cannot change our fate.

“Rational vaccinology” could lead to effective cancer vaccines.

Intentions tend to get mangled by overreach in every complex organization — so dial up the charisma and the clarity.

Artificial intelligence can forecast the behavior of viruses and quickly make vaccines to thwart them.

The last infant stars are finishing their formation inside these pillars of gas. The evaporation of those columns is almost complete.

There was a time where no starlight was visible throughout the entire cosmos. That time was short-lived: shorter than astronomers imagined.

Joseph Campbell argued that nearly every myth can be boiled down to a hero’s journey. Was he right?

Instead of worshipping Yahweh, the devotees were perhaps dedicated to Mars and Jupiter.

If you said “with the Big Bang,” congratulations: that was our best answer as of ~1979. Here’s what we’ve learned in all the time since.

Quantum uncertainty and wave-particle duality are big features of quantum physics. But without Pauli’s rule, our Universe wouldn’t exist.

Galaxies don’t simply feed their central supermassive black holes, but the activity generated inside affects the entire galaxy and more.