March 1, 2012

Mama, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Deny Evolution

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

What’s the Big Idea?

Evolution is the fundamental idea in all of life science, in all of biology. According to Bill Nye, aka the science guy, if grownups want to “deny evolution and live in your world that’s completely inconsistent with everything we observe in the universe, that’s fine, but don’t make your kids do it because we need them.”

Watch the video here:

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A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

A digital illustration of a human brain with blue veins and a glowing light at the top, set against a black background.

The Future

How Neuralink’s chief competitor is tapping into the brain without surgery

“Neurotech is not just about the brain,” says Synchron CTO Riki Banerjee, explaining how their tech can help with paralysis, brain diseases, and beyond.

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Thinking

Everyday Philosophy: Bad at probability? That might be a blessing.

How black and white is your thinking?

Image of Earth set against a black background with the text "A Volatile World" in large white letters.

Why does it feel like the world is falling apart?

“We’ve engineered a volatile world where Starbucks is completely unchanging from year to year, but democracies are collapsing and rivers are drying up.”

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11 min

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with

Brian Klaas

Starts With A Bang

Ask Ethan: Do gravitons need to exist?

Electromagnetism, both nuclear forces, and even the Higgs force are mediated by known bosons. What about gravity? Does it require gravitons?

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The Present

A surprising share of the global elite went to Harvard

A survey of more than 6,000 of the world’s richest, most influential people shows that 9% of them attended Harvard University.

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