science and art
Why are people sexually attracted to cartoons? Evolution.
Nikolaas Tinbergen's concept of "supernormal stimulus" explains why humans are attracted to a heightened version of reality.
How your brain bonds with fictional characters
Scans show similar activity to what occurs when you think about yourself.
How a musician locks onto a rhythm, according to science
A study from McGill University reveals the secret of musicians who have excellent time.
New Google AR exhibits let you see prehistoric creatures up close
Google's Arts & Culture app just added a suite of prehistoric animals and NASA artifacts that are viewable for free with a smartphone.
Musicians and their audiences show synchronized patterns of brain activity
Researchers observed "inter-brain coherence" (IBC) — a synchronisation in brain activity — between a musician and the audience.
Talent, you’re born with. Creativity, you can grow yourself.
In such states of creative divergent thinking, the body is aroused and the pupils become dilated.
Five essential writing tips backed by science
Will Storr has written a masterful guide to writing with "The Science of Storytelling."
Move over, math. The universal language is world music.
A new study finds that societies use the same acoustic features for the same types of songs, suggesting universal cognitive mechanisms underpinning world music.
Not sure what to do with your life? You’re on a path to success.
In David Epstein's 'Range', dabblers and dillettantes are ascendant.
If machines want to make art, will humans understand it?
Empathy is what allows us to understand works of art, right?
10 Golden Age science fiction novels
Transport yourself to other worlds and states of mind.
Leonardo da Vinci could visually flip between dimensions, neuroscientist claims
A neuroscientist argues that da Vinci shared a disorder with Picasso and Rembrandt.
Carl Sagan on why he liked smoking marijuana
Carl Sagan liked to smoke weed. His essay on why is fascinating.
Is postmodernism really anti-science?
Postmodernists like to question the very foundations of our modern society. Does this make them anti-science?
This puppy: Fluffy time-waster or productivity hack?
Why cute images are a productivity hack
▸
3 min
—
with
Why the scholarly journal industry needs oversight
What an academic sting on humanities journals really means to the rest of us. And to academia.
A powerful tool for learning: Why drawing isn’t just an art
It's much more than an art form.
The myth of the mad scientist
Most of us show humility in the face of Nature as we flirt with the unknown.