And the universe said you are the universe
On childhood, black holes and meeting your heroes.
2026
Earth’s Organisms Developed Via Evolution. Some Theorists Wonder: What if the Entire Cosmos Did, Too?
The idea that universes evolve like organisms sat on the fringes of theoretical physics for decades. New observations and a revived theory have given it fresh attention.
Meat Wasn't the Only Food That Drove Early Humans to Evolve Bigger Brains. Sugar May Have Fueled the Organ's Enlargement, Too
Natural sugars may have supplied energy to growing hominin brains before cooking made starchy foods easier to digest.
Stunning New Images Reveal Whirlpools on the Sun's Surface. The Swirling Structures Might Help Power Solar Flares
Solar vortices observed directly in the photosphere may braid magnetic fields and help explain powerful flares and the sun’s superheated atmosphere.
Could Psilocybin Help Treat Anorexia? A Small Clinical Trial Suggests the Psychedelic May Make Patients More Open to Recovery
Paired with intensive psychological support, psilocybin may loosen rigid patterns of thought associated with anorexia, though researchers caution that it is not a magic cure.
After Receiving a Custom Experimental Medicine, a Teen With a Rare Genetic Disorder Walked on His Own for the First Time
Two boys’ progress after personalized treatment highlights both the promise and the practical challenges of tailor-made drugs.
A.I. Disproves a Decades-Old Mathematical Idea, the 'Biggest Conjecture' That the Tech Has Played a Role in Yet
An AI-assisted counterexample related to the Jacobian conjecture marks a notable step in the technology’s role in mathematical research.
The New York Times is publishing AI slop
And why that's bad, in case you still need convincing.
New Close-Up Images Reveal the Wreckage of Ernest Shackleton's Last Ship, Now Draped in Discarded Fishing Gear and Teeming With Life
Close-up imagery shows Shackleton’s last ship serving as marine habitat while bearing traces of commercial fishing.
Bumblebees Seem to 'Lick Their Lips' After Sweet Treats and Shake Their Heads at Bad Tastes, Hinting at the Insects' Inner Lives
Taste-linked bumblebee behaviors may help researchers study emotion-like states and subjective experience in insects.
This Giant Planet May Have Survived the Death of Its Star. The James Webb Space Telescope Just Found Its Atmosphere
Webb observations of gas giant WD 1856 b may reveal how planets can survive the death of their stars.
After Decades of Debate, Scientists Say These Fossils Belong to the Largest Known Scorpion, Which Lived 415 Million Years Ago
New evidence identifies Praearcturus gigas as a scorpion more than three feet long rather than a giant isopod.
Early Humans May Have Used Fire 1.8 Million Years Ago, Nearly Doubling the Age of the Oldest Known Evidence for the Feat
Burned bones from South Africa’s Wonderwerk Cave may indicate that early Homo erectus transported and maintained natural fire.
How to make more prodigies
Mainly, give the kids money for butterflies.
Astronomers Discovered a 'Cosmic Fossil' in the Making—the Most Chemically Primitive Galaxy Seen Yet—by Peering Back to the Edge of Time
Webb observations reveal an unusually chemically primitive early galaxy magnified by gravitational lensing.
A Vietnam Veteran Collected Fossils for 66 Years. One, Mislabeled 'Baby Lamprey,' Made Paleontologists Reconsider How Vertebrates Moved From Water to Land
A misidentified fossil hatchling challenges metamorphosis-based accounts of how vertebrates moved onto land.
Working From Home Is Making People Lonelier and Worsening Mental Health, a Study Suggests
A study finds associations between remote work, loneliness, and mental health while stopping short of justifying blanket office mandates.
Have online worlds become the last free places for children?
Children have lost the freedom to explore and play independently. They now seek out autonomy in digital landscapes.
In Lesotho, the mushroom speaks
The first strong evidence of classical psychedelic use outside the Americas.
A mortal sin of argumentation
It is fruitless to argue against something that your interlocutor does not believe.
Automation will set science free
It was always about the questions.
To the Stone-Cutters
Notes from the Field #2.
School is way worse for kids than social media
On building a world that doesn’t make children stressed, anxious, and sad.
It costs money to share the future
On AI, targeted advertising, and the subtle cruelty of paternalism.
Some works of art are objectively better
On intelligence, aesthetics, and building a life worth living.
2025
Why Is Everything 'Wrapped'?
On Spotify, WEIRDness, and the endless search for ourselves.
God, and other things that are just for fun
On dancing our way to divinity.
Flat Earth, spirits and conspiracy theories – experience can shape even extraordinary beliefs
Extraordinary beliefs may be supported by an individual’s experience, rather than simply being impervious to evidence.
News From the Future #1
The Experience Machine.
Where Do the Children Play?
On the need for a world without us.
He who is without sin
On factory farming, the Holocaust, and hypocrisy.
Experience required
Or: Do Atheists Dream of Conscious Trees?
Goldilocks questions
On the nature of “PhD-level intelligence.”
I Do Not Recommend Boofing Plants
Notes from the Field #1.
Eli’s Extras: Being ‘Dylanesque’
On the musical stylings of Jesse Welles.
Andrew Tate is right about masculinity
Liberal culture needs a positive, concrete model of masculinity capable of competing with reactionary influencers.
The S Stands for Shtetl
Superman becomes a way to articulate a diasporic Jewish ethic centered on protecting life and opposing the destruction of Gaza.
Intelligent aliens would make a whole bunch of stuff like ours. Maybe.
Which technologies, if any, should independently evolving advanced civilizations be expected to invent?
Trans athletes are political cheesecake
The attention paid to trans athletes reveals how disgust, social policing, and statistically minor issues become politically compelling.
Humans aren’t the only animals with complex culture − but researchers point to one feature that makes ours unique
What sets human culture apart may be the uniquely open-ended ways we invent new ideas and share and build on them.
Everything's funny and nothing hurts
An exploration of dark humor, laughter’s tension-regulating functions, and the ethics of laughing at real suffering.