Mercury Has Gotten Smaller Than We Thought
The first planet from the sun has been hiding its wrinkles
A Process Made for Mars is Now Uncovering Ancient Art on Earth
And you can even run it on your own phone
Here’s How Fast An Adult Tyrannosaurus Rex Walked
The first fossilized adult T. rex trackway tells us a lot about how these predators got around
How Your Brain See-Saws between Risk and Reward
Tough decisions get calculated from a spot right above the eyes involved in impulse control
All the Ways Reading for Pleasure is Good for Your Mental Health
Even though it might be a dying pastime
Latest Stories
The Brutal Origins of Bear-Baiting
The practice exploded in popularity following the Norman Conquest
Taylor Swift Drops New Insect Species
Thanks to a graduate student who is a “lifelong Swiftie”
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 AstronomyGenetically Engineered Yeast Could Transform Martian Soil into Living Building Materials
Living yeast yurts on Mars!
The Moon May Have Been Created in Just Five Hours
Researchers played out the impact between Earth and the hypothetical ancient planet Theia
History
See more HistoryRope, Twine and Thread: Invisible Technologies of the Stone Age
Missing from the archaeological record, fiber innovations like string played a huge role in the daily lives of our ancestors. Researchers are working to weave together new insights from the traces they left behind
What Archaeology Reveals About the Rise of All-Powerful Rulers
Autocracy wasn’t inevitable in early civilizations—many were more egalitarian. But when riches were there to monopolize, strongmen and inequalities emerged
40 Years Ago, Oceanographers Found the Wreckage of the RMS Titanic
The maritime disaster of 1912 wasn’t fully understood until the shipwreck was rediscovered
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 EnvironmentThis New “Devil Flower” Species Doesn’t Photosynthesize
It’s a rare plant with an “enigmatic and devil-like essence”
This Is What Happens When 1,000 People Bury Their Underwear for Science
Talk about getting to the bottom of things
Zoology
See more ZoologyWhy the Discovery of the First Short-Tailed Tsushima Leopard Cat Worried Researchers
They were concerned its existence could actually threaten its survival
Philosophy
See more PhilosophyWhat 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.
The Inventor of the Thinking Machine Didn’t Worry. Neither Should You
In this age of AI anxiety, listen to your heart
DRC’s Ebola Outbreak Has the Potential to Become a Global Pandemic. How to Make Sure It Doesn’t
Bundibugyo is spreading exponentially in the DRC
Read more
See all postsThe Promise and Peril of Toad Smoking, the Everest of Psychedelics
A conversation with author Kimon de Greef about his new book “The Ego Trip”
Are Too Many Americans Taking Antidepressants?
Rates of anxiety and depression have grown since the COVID-19 pandemic—as have prescriptions for antidepressants
Inside IBM’s New Quantum Computing Fridges, 180 Times Colder Than Deep Space
These bulky units can link qubits together like never before
AI Engineers Are Having Their Oppenheimer “Destroyer of Worlds” Moment
A cascade of regret and apocalyptic short-term forecasts hit social media this week
