It’s deceptively tricky to distinguish living systems from non-living systems. Physics may be key to solving the problem.
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For now, our Solar System’s eight planets are all safe, and relatively stable. Billions of years from now, everything will be different.
Out beyond Neptune are some fascinating bodies left over from our Solar System’s formation. Could one of them truly be spectacular?
This map samples some of the digits that make up the DDC system, invented by the brilliant but flawed Melvil Dewey.
Valles Marineris is the Solar System’s grandest canyon, many times longer, wider, and deeper than the Grand Canyon. What scarred Mars so?
Here in our Solar System, we only have one star: a singlet. For many systems, including the highest-mass ones, that’s anything but the norm.
The structure of our Solar System has been known for centuries. When we finally started finding exoplanets, they surprised everyone.
A small Ohio town tried to escape America’s addiction to rectangular grids. It didn’t last long.
Functional complex systems arise from functional simple systems. Failing to heed this advice can and will lead to disaster.
Beef production is largely responsible for greenhouse gas emissions from the food system.
Finding life beyond our Solar System requires understanding its host planet.
The second law of thermodynamics is an inviolable law of reality. Here’s what everyone should know about closed, open, and isolated systems.
It temporarily puts the immune system on high alert to prevent MRSA, pneumonia, and other infections in the hospital.
From size to mass to density and more, each world in our Solar System is unique. When we compare them, the results are truly shocking.
From the coldest planets to spacecraft that have exited the Solar System, these little-known facts stump even many professional astronomers.
New radiocarbon dating reveals astonishing insights.
The TRAPPIST-1 system is a treasure trove of possibilities and questions. Observations by JWST have just begun.
Dennis Klatt developed trailblazing text-to-speech systems before losing his own voice to cancer.
Some microbes can withstand Earth’s most inhospitable corners, hinting that life may be able to survive similarly extreme conditions on other worlds.
Get ready for the most peculiar road trip that will help you understand the vastness and emptiness of the solar system — and Sweden.
A new technique that can automatically classify phases of physical systems could help scientists investigate novel materials.
Google’s first Chief Innovation Evangelist — Frederik Pferdt — lays out a map for navigating unprecedented change and innovation.
The road from Kant to modern cognitive psychology has taught us much about our mental filtering systems.
The expanding Universe, in many ways, is the ultimate out-of-equilibrium system. After enough time passes, will we eventually get there?
The detection of two celestial interlopers careening through our solar system has scientists eagerly anticipating more.
The technology could yield “made-to-order resistance genes” to protect crops against pathogens and pests.
From forgotten Hollywood movies to Frank Herbert’s “Dune,” science fiction illustrates some of our deepest fears about technology.
For better and worse, the Columbian Exchange plugged the Americas into the global system — and there was no going back.
There are plenty of life-friendly stellar systems in the Universe today. But at some point in the far future, life’s final extinction will occur.
Cognitive systems famously posited by psychologist Daniel Kahneman (1934-2024) may hold the key to a more productive and focused work environment.