Facts So Romantic

Can we apply a physics-like reductionism to people? That’s a question we asked Simon DeDeo, a professor of social and decision sciences at Carnegie Mellon University, who also heads the…

Reprinted with permission from Quanta Magazine’s Abstractions blog.An overarching theme in the story of evolution, at least over the past half billion years or so, is rising complexity.…

Physicists speak of four fundamental forces that govern the interactions among the bits of matter that make up our universe. The strongest of these four forces, aptly known as the Strong…

During my career as a scientist and a philosopher I have written and edited, thus far, 14 books. Of these, seven are for the general public. Of those, only one (my very first one, as it…

Reprinted with permission from Quanta Magazine’s Abstractions blog.Leonard Susskind, a pioneer of string theory, the holographic principle, and other big physics ideas spanning the…

Once you’re called a “genius,” what’s left? Super genius? No, getting called a “genius” is the final accolade, the last laudatory label for anyone. At least that’s how several…

My high school biology teacher, Mr. Whittington, put a framed picture of a primate ancestor in the front of his classroom—a place of reverence. In a deeply religious and conservative…

Reprinted with permission from Quanta Magazine’s Abstractions blog.The tree of life just got another major branch. Researchers recently found a certain rare and mysterious microbe…

Life outside Earth has its own Hobbesian description: isolated, confined, and extreme—or I.C.E. “Space is the quintessential ICE environment,” according to a 2018 paper, published…

As a kid, I’d sometimes try to imagine what life would be like without a particular sense or part of my body, like with questions from the Would You Rather? game. Would you rather be…