Louis Menand discusses the downright weird way we care about fictional characters we know perfectly well aren’t really real.
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And what you can do to fight it. “October extinguished itself in a rush of howling winds and driving rain and November arrived, cold as frozen iron, with hard frosts every […]
A recent tweet from Donald Trump plummeted the value of Lockheed Martin’s stocks. What implications does this hold about the economic influences of social media?
CERN researchers make a major step in understanding antimatter by trapping antihydrogen atoms and controlling them with lasers.
This could open allow for the exploration of nearby exoplanets, solar systems, and other parts of the galaxy.
One of the lesser-discussed but potentially most disastrous appointments is in education: Betsy DeVos. Her anti-intellectual agenda would take root in the nation’s youngest minds, filtering down through descendant generations.
Journalist Eric Schlosser reports that the president isn’t actually the only American who can launch a nuclear attack all by himself or with one other person.
Physicist Erik Verlinde’s theory successfully predicts the distribution of gravity around 33,000+ galaxies without relying on unobserved “dark matter”.
That’s not how probability works. Or asteroids, for that matter. “Bringing an asteroid back to Earth? What’s that have to do with space exploration? If we were moving outward from there, […]
Given the FDA’s lack of oversight, the FTC is stepping in to regulate homeopathic products.
One radical notion is that the story of Jesus was a type of psychological warfare to pacify the Jews.
Jonathan Coulton’s song “The Future Soon” is a sly commentary on our romantic dreams of a better future.
The United States of America is as divided now as it has ever been. Why is this? One author suggests that it is because we have never been one united nation, but 11 differing ones. Founded for different reasons and striving towards conflicting goals, can they ever learn to get along again?
And, in the process, surpasses every supernova ever seen in terms of brightness. “Even with all the collected data we cannot say with 100% certainty that the ASASSN-15lh event was […]
We urgently need fresh new thinking in order to address the scale and gravity of today’s global challenges, which have outgrown the present system’s ability to handle them.
Taking pain relief at the first feelings of a headache may mask an underlying condition. Use long-term treatments designed for migraines, says the director of Yale’s Headache and Facial Pain Center.
People like Thomas More, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, and Bertrand Russell have already had many of the arguments we’re having about basic income today.
Dr. Elise Klein wants to point out the conversations we’re having around Universal Basic Income (UBI) aren’t new. Great leaders and thinkers Thomas Paine, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, and Tony Atkinson have already had many of the arguments surrounding UBI, today. Its history bears repeating.
A strangely reassuring global directory of close to 8,000 radio stations
It’s not just the dope suits. A review says leadership plays a huge role at both the agency level and executive branch.
The flash lasts seconds, the brightness dies down in months. Yet centuries later, the remnant still shines. “When we recall the past, we usually find that it is the simplest things — not […]
Extreme “river in the sky” climate events nearly wiped out the local population of a keystone species, the Olympia oyster.
Could life on Earth have spawned more than once?
The work of Kremlin-approved philosopher Alexander Dugin provides key insights on the longterm strategy behind Russian hacks of the American elections.
The US Air Force’s Space Horizons Team wants to juice America’s space program. Here’s how.
This particular type of gene therapy gave mice younger bodies and 30% longer lifespans.
If you have dreams of space, here’s your guide… to more than just school! “I’m coming back in… and it’s the saddest moment of my life.” –Ed White, at the end […]
Science fiction author David Brin analyses the moral within the Star Wars films – and it might not be one that you like.
Spontaneous talk on surprise topics. “Vampire Chronicles” author Anne Rice on superstition, science, and why she thinks Freddie Mercury was a vampire.
Storied skills and a musical analogy might help us update the logic of “virtue ethics.” In life, as in jazz, freedom without skills results in a lot foolish noise.
Hans Rosling was a physician and statistics superstar who advised world leaders and tech tycoons.