The Fundamental Incomprehensibility of Cats — May 4, 2013

The Fundamental Incomprehensibility of Cats

The only thing I’ve benefited from cats is I don’t understand them.

Question: Why do you have so many cats?

Ai Weiwei: I think it’s always a treasure for a human to understand another animal or another life. And of course we’ll never understand their language and their life, but still it’s such a privilege to live with them.

Question: Can you talk about if spending so much time around cats influences the way you live and work?

Ai Weiwei: The only thing I’ve benefited from cats is I don’t understand them.

a Tardigrade animal is shown in this image.

Health

How the nearly indestructible tardigrade can bring vaccines and medicine to Africa

Tardigrades can completely dehydrate and later rehydrate themselves, a survival trick that scientists are harnessing to preserve medicines in hot temperatures.

a painting of a group of people flying over a city.

Thinking

The key to feeling happier about the future: Mental time travel

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.

13.8

Science claims a “god’s-eye view” of reality. This is fiction

It’s a useful fiction — but it’s still fiction.

a bronze statue of a wolf and two children.

The Past

How Rome’s terrible 7th king led to the Republic

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.

a computer generated image of a cell phone in the desert.

Hard Science

A new Earth-sized, volcanic planet is a good candidate for harboring life

Exoplanet LP 791-18d is likely to have an atmosphere and liquid water.

Up Next

A Year on the Sun

The picture above is a composite of 25 images recorded in extreme ultraviolet light by the Solar Dynamics Observatory over the course of the past year.