What Odysseus needed from his father was something more important: the comfort of being a son.
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Wearable technology can help increase lifespan by changing what we know about our dietary needs and creating new ways to exercise.
Nikolaas Tinbergen’s concept of “supernormal stimulus” explains why humans are attracted to a heightened version of reality.
In terms of sheer productivity, “-gate” has no peer. Wikipedia’s list of -gates has over 260 entries.
It’s not about leaves in tall trees.
You’ve heard of Stephen Hawking. Ever heard of Renata Kallosh? Didn’t think so.
An analogy explains the greater fool theory: You don’t have to run faster than the bear to get away; you just have to run faster than the other guy.
AI systems can carry on convincing conversations, but they have no understanding of what they’re saying. Humans are easily fooled.
With two different black hole event horizons now directly imaged, we can see that they are, in fact, rings, not disks. But why?
Does your father say “I love you,” or express it in another way?
Our economy is dominated by middlemen, including huge companies such as Walmart and Amazon. There are many benefits to going direct instead.
Any alien civilization that grows to span an entire planet would spark the same effects that we have. So, what do we do about it?
In New Zealand, ambitious Kiwis want to launch a lawn mowing business; in South Africa, it’s cooking gas refills. Start-up dreams vary widely.
Technology will not save the world, and it is inherently neither good nor bad. But, when tech is coupled to human virtue, good will prevail.
When stars form, they emit energetic radiation that boils gas away. But it can’t stop gravitational collapse from making even newer stars.
For 40 years, scientists thought a specific gene was linked to aggression in hamsters. Removing it, however, had violent consequences.
From persuasion lessons to objection clinics, these sales training ideas have proven successful for a variety of organizations.
The engineer working on Google’s AI, called LaMDA, suffers from what we could call Michelangelo Syndrome. Scientists must beware hubris.
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will study many dangerous cosmic phenomena, knowledge of which may help save humanity.
The sonnenrad is a Heathen symbol composed of 12 repeated runes.
If you think you know how an astronomical nova works, buckle up. You’re in for a ride like you never expected.
A dispute marked by flags and booze has been replaced with an official land border.
Game theory is a unique combination of math and psychology. Its applications turn up everywhere, from nuclear war to Tinder to game shows.
In the age of distraction, don’t we all want to read faster and more efficiently?
The long-standing debate over whether dinosaurs were more like birds or lizards is drawing to a close.
An elaborate device called the Mechanical Turk defeated Benjamin Franklin and Napoleon Bonaparte at chess. Edgar Allan Poe revealed the hoax.
Earth is the Solar System’s only known inhabited planet. Could Venus, if its phosphine signal is real, be our second world with life?
The American author said he attempted to bring scientific thinking to literary criticism, but received “very little gratitude for this.”
In “The Secret Life of Secrets”, Michael Slepian explores how holding secrets affects our relationships, psychology, and well-being.