Our Ancient Ancestors’ Lost Habitat Revealed by 700,000-Year-Old Elephant’s Tooth
An elephant’s tooth never forgets
Single Orangutan Moms Set up Playdates for Their Kids
And they go to considerable lengths to do it
A Recipe for Stopping AI from Going Rogue
This formula aims to prevent LLMs from doing things that endanger humans
A Distant Star is Slowly Snacking on a Brown Dwarf
This absorption could take billions of years
Latest Stories
Meet the New Otterlike Predator That Scurried Alongside Dinosaurs
Its unique throat paved the way for our big brains
Why Forgive and Forget is Bad Advice
A conversation with MacArthur fellow Felipe de Brigard about how forgiveness reshapes the memory of atrocity
Read Stories from Our Newest Print Issue: The Stupid Issue
See moreThe Elegance of a Stupid Question
Are computers in mathematics rewriting the definitions of stupid and smart?
The Resistance Is Here
They didn’t plan to be activists. But scientists have united to overturn Trump’s drastic cuts to science.
The Return of a Discredited Pseudoscience
Eugenics is rearing its ugly head again in today’s crucible of politics and culture
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Cutting-edge science, unraveled by the brightest living thinkers.
Astronomy
See more AstronomyThe Most Curious Cloud on Mars Relies on Some Bizarre Physics
We’ve never seen anything like this before
Coral Reef-Like Rock Layers on Mars Reveal Ancient Climate Secrets
A landscape painted by rocks, wind, and water
This Spectacular Star Field Hides Brown Dwarfs That Never Ignite
The James Webb Space Telescope does it again
History
See more HistoryThousands of Fancy Dishes Have Survived a 2,100-Year-Old Shipwreck
You probably wouldn’t want to eat off them though
Ancient Pocket Change Reveals Special Status of Rome’s “Little Englanders”
These pilgrims didn’t have to secure travel money
Psychology
See more PsychologyEnvy at the Ballot Box
Majority voting may make us less willing to tolerate advantages for others
I’m Part of the Team Writing the Next Bible of Psychiatry—For the First Time, the DSM Will Use Biology to Understand Mental Disorders
Part of the challenge of finding a biomarker for mental illness is the environment’s significant influence
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Environment
See more Environment
One Giant Clam Contains a Month‑by‑Month Diary of the Great Barrier Reef’s Climate 200 Years Ago
An under-the-sea autobiography
Astronaut Photos Taken Just 13 Years Apart Show a Major Shift in City Lights
We’ve moved on from the golden glow
Zoology
See more Zoology
From the Great Sphinx’s Raw Materials, a New Crocodile Species Surfaces
It from a bygone epoch when all sorts of crocs roamed the Mediterranean
Philosophy
See more PhilosophyCould AI Have Consciousness That Isn’t Human-Like?
Philosopher Peter Godfrey-Smith on AI consciousness and existential risk
What a Picture of a Dog Has to Do with Reason and Logic
People who can’t see images in their minds challenge an old philosophical standby
What Makes Humans Stupid
It takes intelligence to get things spectacularly wrong. An essay on our undoing.
Neanderthals Were Adept Woodworkers Too
But most of their work has been lost
Read more
See all postsCreating Fake People is a Terrible Idea
So why is a company pursuing digital avatars with such gusto?
Is Criminal Forensics Bullshit?
Blood pattern analysis, ballistics, and drug-sniffing dogs are getting a fresh look
Human Vision Has Quirks That AI Can’t Match
Your robot butler can’t do a Magic Eye poster… yet
The Incas Adorned Animal Sacrifices With Coca Leaves
The find highlights the importance of the plant to Incan culture
David Byrne Awakens the Story of Dark Matter
In an excerpt from his new book, “Sleeping Beauties,” the musician and writer revisits the brilliant discoveries by astronomer Vera Rubin
Do Babies Feel Shame?
Research suggests they may be capable of self-conscious emotion much earlier than we thought
