From “Thompson’s violinist” to the “Experience Machine,” these thought experiments will throw your mind for a loop.

This productivity hack comes with an asterisk, explains note-taking guru Tiago Forte.

Even if a balloon flies directly overhead, attempting to shoot it down with a conventional firearm is stupid, ineffective, and dangerous.

In the West, discussions of 20th-century painting are dominated by Warhol and Picasso, but trendsetting artists are found everywhere.

If you get married in South Africa, don’t be surprised if someone shows up to the ceremony dragging along a smelly goat.

Catastrophes are difficult to predict because they are so rare. But AI using active learning can make predictions from very small data sets.

The secret ingredient is violence, and it just might indicate that “moonmoons” aren’t as uncommon as most astronomers think.

Washington University professor John Inazu tells us how we can make peace inside a raging culture war.

How to say “I love you” in Basque, the “most loving” cities around the world, and where most of America’s singles live — and so much more!

Your brain may notice fearful faces, even if you don’t consciously realize it.

A study out of Sweden shows that the highest earning men are slightly less intelligent than those just below them on the economic ladder.

To do more, it sometimes pays to do nothing at all.

Instead of walking a mile in someone’s shoes, try reading a chapter in their book.

Generations ago, cosmologists asserted that the Universe might not just be the same in all directions, but at all times. But is that true?

The pathogen typically kills more than 90% of people it infects.

Some microbes can withstand Earth’s most inhospitable corners, hinting that life may be able to survive similarly extreme conditions on other worlds.

“Language is the most distinctively human talent.”

A fascinating 90 minute podcast between Dr. Ivanna Escala and Ethan Siegel on Starts With A Bang!

They cost $1,400 and will make you feel like you’re always on a moving sidewalk.

Whether in Russia or China, the secret police are defined by their unquestioning loyalty — as well as by their poor career prospects.

The answer to the age-old philosophical question of whether there is meaning in the Universe may ultimately rest upon the power of information.

Almost 18,000 projects, brought together on one clickable map.

According to Peter Ward’s “Medea hypothesis,” photosynthesizing organisms regularly doom most life on Earth by over-consuming carbon dioxide.

A wide-scale examination of early Neolithic human skeletons reveals the violent history of a supposedly peaceful period.

Why does time move forward but not backward? Physicist Sabine Hossenfelder explains.

From the earliest stages of the hot Big Bang (and even before) to our dark energy-dominated present, how and when did the Universe grow up?

Video games matter. Their continued technological and artistic development is reshaping the way we satisfy our ancient need to tell stories.

Smart investors recognize that the stock market doesn’t exist in a vacuum.

Kids are fragile. They should trust their feelings. The world is a battle between good and evil. We should stop repeating these untruths.

Science will lead us to a universal morality and a cosmic religion.