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Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.

These scrolls are the only remaining intact library of ancient Rome — and they will crumble at a touch.

The documents that convicted the infamous traitor were all kept in this unassuming leather pouch.

Whatever your length of service in the top role, this tool-box will help you conquer adversity — and thrive.

Who — or what — really controls your mind?

Research suggests that emotional intelligence is more vital for success than IQ.

Solving difficult visual puzzles seems to help the brain “rewire” itself by forming new neural pathways.

Three years after the pandemic began, we still don’t know the origin of COVID. A strange lack of curiosity has stifled the debate.

A crowdsourced “final exam” for AI promises to test LLMs like never before. Here’s how the idea, and its implementation, dooms us to fail.

There are three barriers we need to overcome to have better, more productive arguments.

Jokes so cheesy even French philosophers will love them.

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

Philosophers, theoretical physicists, psychologists, and others consider what or who is really in control.

Preventing scurvy is not just a problem in the Antarctic.

Many first-hand accounts from the golden age of piracy were grossly embellished, meaning it’s extremely difficult to separate Blackbeard the legend from Edward Thatch the person.

Your life is far more arbitrary than you might think.

How does philosophy try to balance having free will with living in a deterministic universe?

In a 2018 article, Gallup writer Ryan Pendell shared some frightening figures for business leaders. Public poll data showed that only a quarter of employees believed their leaders had a […]

Thought expriments are great tools, but do they always do what we want them to?

Chemical engineers have developed a way to protect transplanted drug-producing cells from immune system rejection.

And if you have a friend at the same longitude, you can even measure its circumference. This year’s equinox, on March 19/20 of 2020 (longitude-dependent), is Earth’s earliest in 124 […]

Why campuses are becoming polarized — and what we can do about it.

We like to think of creativity as an inherently good thing. History and science say otherwise.

Could this be the beginning of the end of insulin injections?

It’s one way to interpret recent X-ray data, but it conflicts with much, much better data we already have. Earlier this month, a new study came out claiming something shocking: perhaps […]

Try not to think about your hands. Now enjoy a few minutes of not being able to stop thinking about them.

In 1919, Woodrow Wilson attempted to rally the U.S. behind the League of Nations. His failure suggested the way forward.

New research from the University of Buffalo makes the case for the smartphone.

Patients with lung disease could find relief by breathing in messenger RNA molecules.

Who should sit atop the iron throne? Let your DNA decide. Here on Earth, we hold one important truth to be self-evident above all others: that all humans are created equal. […]