Up until 2002, we thought that the heaviest stable element was bismuth: #83 on the periodic table. That’s absolutely no longer the case.
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For linguists, the uniqueness of the Basque language represents an unsolved mystery. For its native speakers, long oppressed, it is a source of pride.
A series of charts shows how prevalent different mental illnesses are across the globe — but how we define them matters.
The brightest gamma-ray burst ever observed, GRB 221009A behaved in unexpected ways that might help us understand how they occur.
Descartes broke from the European philosophers who preceded him and devised a new way of considering humanity and the world.
Brain activity may be more like “ripples in a pond” rather than signals sent on a telecommunications network.
Sun-like stars live for around 10 billion years, but our Universe is only 13.8 billion years old. So what’s the maximum lifetime for a star?
A study found that older adults who cannot balance on one foot for ten seconds have an 84% higher risk of death than those who can.
Centuries ago, the typical British coffeehouse was more like a “school without a master” than a place to grab a quick boost of caffeine.
Neuroscientist and author Bobby Azarian explores the idea that the Universe is a self-organizing system that evolves and learns.
At the turn of the millennium, a physicist fooled the global scientific community with the greatest discovery that never existed.
June 12, 2023
A quote apocryphally attributed to Henry Ford goes, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” Our crossword this week covers recent critical innovations and the debate as to whether they will be beneficial or detrimental to mankind’s survival.
With hundreds of billions of stars burning bright, some galaxies are already dead. Their inhabitants might not know it, but we’re certain.
The Foo Fighters are at the dead center of the map, so all the other bands are happier, sadder, angrier, or hornier.
There are 40 billion billion black holes in the universe. Here’s how our Solar System stacks up against ten of them.
“In witness whereof, the parties hereunto have set their hands to these presents as a deed on the day month and year hereinbefore mentioned.”
From gene expression to protein design, large language models are creating a suite of powerful genomic tools.
Mary Toft staged an elaborate hoax, but the pain was real.
You’ll be able to sleep through a war.
“Why are you unhappy? Because 99.9 percent of everything you think, and of everything you do, is for yourself — and there isn’t one.”
Who’s afraid of utopia? AI doubters have cold feet. History can warm them.
Impossible standards and poor self-understanding are making us miserable.
We don’t know what causes Miyake events, but these great surges of energy can help us understand the past — while posing a threat to our future.
If you think you know what sex, gender, and “the right thing to do” for trans youth and adults are, be sure it agrees with actual science.
Tardigrades can completely dehydrate and later rehydrate themselves, a survival trick that scientists are harnessing to preserve medicines in hot temperatures.
We will have a better shot at improving our lives once we come to understand, know, and love the people we will one day become.
It’s a useful fiction — but it’s still fiction.
Before Rome was an empire, it was a republic. And before it was a republic, it was a kingdom ruled by seven mythical kings — some better than others.
Exoplanet LP 791-18d is likely to have an atmosphere and liquid water.
Energy balance is the greatest arbiter of weight gain. Embrace the “oinker diet.”