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The Strange Brain of the World’s Greatest Solo Climber
Alex Honnold doesn’t experience fear like the rest of us.
We Are Nowhere Close to the Limits of Athletic Performance
Genetic engineering will bring us new Bolts and Shaqs.
Yes, Your Brain Does Process Information
The Sound So Loud That It Circled the Earth Four Times
The 1883 eruption on Krakatoa may be the loudest noise the Earth has ever made.
Traffic Wouldn’t Jam If Drivers Behaved Like Ants
Retiring Retirement
A growing portion of the elderly look and act anything but.
The Man Who Blamed Aging on His Intestines
The productive, bizarre career of Nobel laureate and early aging researcher Elie Metchnikoff.
The Father of Modern Metal
The creation of stainless steel took equal parts metallurgy and perseverance.
Can a Cat Have an Existential Crisis?
Treating my cat for depression caused me to question the state of anxiety in animals and us.
Dolphins Are Helping Us Hunt for Aliens
Why Revolutionaries Love Spicy Food
How the chili pepper got to China.
Parents Shouldn’t Spy on Their Kids
Apps that make it easy to invade kids’ privacy are a recipe for arrested development.
How to Avoid Empathy Burnout
Caregivers can benefit by understanding a patient’s pain without feeling it themselves.
The Strange Ecosystem in the Sea: Dead Whales
Your Happiness Is Like a Rocking Chair
In the “Black Mayonnaise” of Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal, Alien Life Is Being Born
Why Are So Many Animals Homosexual?
She’ll Text Me, She’ll Text Me Not
The science of waiting in modern courtship.
Love Is Like Cocaine
From ecstasy to withdrawal, the lover resembles an addict.
Here’s What We’ll Do in Space by 2116
How to Survive Solitary Confinement
An ex-convict on how to set your mind free.
These Tricks Make Virtual Reality Feel Real
Realistic digital spaces need delusions as much as they need detail.
The Volcano That Shrouded the Earth and Gave Birth to a Monster
Three years of darkness and cold spawned crime, poverty, and a literary masterpiece.
What I Learned from Losing $200 Million
The 2008 financial crisis taught me about the illusion of control, and how to give it up.
Why Scientists Need To Fail Better
The rush for success is driving science into a corner, apart from wider culture.
The Science Hidden In Your Town Name
How place names encode ecological change.
Why the Russians Decapitated Major Tom
The story of the genetically engineered mouse cosmonaut.
The Trouble with Theories of Everything
There is no known physics theory that is true at every scale—there may never be.
The Moral Argument for Doping in Sports
Parenthood, the Great Moral Gamble
The decision to have a child is more ethically uncertain than you might realize.
The Curious Case of the Bog Bodies
Why do so many corpses found in Europe’s peat bogs show signs of violent death?
Is Coloring Within the Lines the New Meditation?
Why Hasn’t the World Been Destroyed in a Nuclear War Yet?
Why Does Mass Hysteria Affect Mostly Women?
Why Your Brain Hates Slowpokes
The high speed of society has jammed your internal clock.
Forget “Earth-Like”—We’ll First Find Aliens on Eyeball Planets
The Brilliant “Baloney Slicer” That Started the Digital Age
The Man Who Tried to Redeem the World with Logic
Walter Pitts rose from the streets to MIT, but couldn’t escape himself.
Turning Back the Clock on Human Evolution
Digging through the world’s oldest graveyard with African paleontologists.
The Common Genius of Lincoln and Einstein
The president and the physicist teach us a lesson about moral genius.
The Sound So Loud That It Circled the Earth Four Times
The Original Natural Born Killers
In the 1920s, two murderers were defended by science. The infamous case still echoes.
How To Waste Time Properly
The right distractions boost creativity.
This Is Your Brain on Silence
Contrary to popular belief, peace and quiet is all about the noise in your head.
Why We Procrastinate
We think of our future selves as strangers.
Postcards From the Edge of Consciousness
Sensory deprivation goes from CIA torture manuals to a yoga studio near you.
99 Problems, and a Wild Gecko Space Orgy Is Just One
Ants Swarm Like Brains Think
A neuroscientist studies ant colonies to understand feedback in the brain.
The Curse of the Unlucky Mummy
When science and fear collide, a supernatural story thrives.
Early Humans Made Animated Art
How Paleolithic artists used fire to set the world’s oldest art in motion.
The Glassmaker Who Sparked Astrophysics
His curious discovery, 200 years ago, foresaw our expanding universe.
Animals Bow to Their Mechanical Overlords
Robots are infiltrating insect, fish, and bird communities—and seizing control.
Why We Procrastinate
We think of our future selves as strangers.
How To Waste Time Properly
The right distractions can boost creativity.
Purest of the Purists: The Puzzling Case of Grigori Perelman
The Meme as Meme
Why do things go viral, and should we care?
All Cells Bulletin: How Fame Powers Your Immune System
Ants Go Marching
More than an expert traveler, the fire ant is the ultimate invader.
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