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Saturn’s Rings Could Be Younger Than Flowers
We’re lucky that a relatively recent catastrophe created the gas-giant spectacle.
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The Mystery of the Largest Light in the Sea
This giant squid has the world’s biggest light-producing organs. But why?
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The Porthole
Short sharp looks at science
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Were These Caves Licked into Place?
Some of the Earth’s hardest features have been shaped by soft animal bodies.
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A New View of the Martian Globe
This map of Mars provides an in-depth look at its expansive geography and topography.
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Finding the Color of an Empire
What a particular shade of black can teach us about an ancient civilization.
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Welcome to The Porthole
Short sharp looks at science.
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Who Should Make the Rules That Govern AI?
One question for Laura Weidinger and Iason Gabriel, research scientists at Google DeepMind.
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Global Warming Could Make Some Fish Less Nutritious
The nutrient composition of ocean life is changing.
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A Conversation with Animal Rights Pioneer Peter Singer
“Animal Liberation” is nearly 50 years old. What have we learned?
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Why Scientists Need to Get High
Psychoactive drugs have long been hailed as miracle cures. But you can only understand the paths they blaze through the mind if you’ve traveled them.
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Why Do People Believe the Earth Is Flat?
One question for José Arroyo-Barrigüete, an economist at Comillas Pontifical University in Spain.
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What an Oyster Hears
Listening for the sounds of coastal restoration.
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Is Consciousness More Like Chess or the Weather?
Our minds seem both physical and intangible. That paradox has gripped this neuroscientist since childhood.
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AI Shouldn’t Decide What’s True
Experts on why trusting artificial intelligence to give us the truth is a foolish bargain.
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The Two-Century Quest to Quantify Our Senses
From speaking flowers to smart watches, we’ve been seeking to understand ourselves with data since the 19th century.
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The World Is Full of Sleeping Beauties
Success in nature and culture depends just as much on timing as it does on brilliance.
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How Can We Discourage Mass Shootings?
One question for Maurizio Porfiri and Rayan Succar, dynamical systems engineers at New York University.
