This Fish Is the Kobayashi of the Sea
It can swallow prey up to 10 times its weight
How Prehistoric People Survived After One of the Worst Volcanic Eruptions in History
It’s a story of human resilience
Here’s How Freaky the Universe Would Look If Light Slowed to 3 Miles Per Hour
Einstein’s theories in a virtual theme park
Why Story and Playtime Really Matter
Face-to-face interaction trumps screens for social and language learning
Latest Stories
New Feathered Dinosaur is the First Megaraptor Discovered in Europe
Its name means “unconquered female warrior”
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 Astronomy
A Distant Planet Emitted a Burst of Radio Waves. Why?
Astronomers pinpoint the origin of a 10 billion‑year‑old millisecond signal from space
History
See more HistoryThis Is the Oldest Peace Treaty Ever Discovered
Maybe there are a few things we can still learn from it
Thousands of Fancy Dishes Have Survived a 2,100-Year-Old Shipwreck
You probably wouldn’t want to eat off them though
Psychology
See more PsychologyWhy Forgive and Forget is Bad Advice
A conversation with MacArthur fellow Felipe de Brigard about how forgiveness reshapes the memory of atrocity
Envy 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
Zoology
See more ZoologyThese New Snails Can Slam Shut Their Shells Like Doors
It’s always good to have the option of some peace and quiet
Single Orangutan Moms Set up Playdates for Their Kids
And they go to considerable lengths to do it
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.
ISS Astronaut Spots Moon-like Mountains From Space
Earth and the moon have a shared geological history
Read more
See all postsThis Prehistoric Alaskan Camp is Rewriting the History of Beringia
Stone tools point to a common culture
The Death of a Russian Plague Researcher, Explained by a Microbiologist
Namely: How worried should we be?
Our Messy Cyborg Past and Future
Mike Jay, author of “Wireheads,” on the murky borderlands where the science and fiction of mind control meet
Was Human Language Born Around the Campfire?
Our early human ancestors telling fireside stories may have propelled the development of speech by facilitating discussion of more abstract concepts
Deep-Sea Mining Faces Another Hurdle—Exploding Rocks
Samples spontaneously combusted in the lab
Check Out the Natural Beauty of the Natural Landscape Photography Awards
What a stunning world we live in
Leap Seconds Have Helped Keep Clocks Synchronized with Earth’s Rotation, But Their Time May Be Over
Humans haven’t always counted time down to the second
