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Through the Microscope, Bacterial Colonies Look Like Bustling Cities

They come and go from diverse neighborhoods, build towers, and cooperate.

June 19, 2023

Some Neural Networks Learn Language Like Humans

Researchers uncover striking parallels in the ways that humans and machine learning models acquire language skills.

June 16, 2023

Do Whales Have Culture?

Sperm whales learn patterns of clicks and other social behaviors from their clans.

June 16, 2023

How We’re Becoming Bigger Jerks Online

Face-altering images are encouraging selfish behavior.

June 15, 2023

Cormac McCarthy Took Us Beneath the Surface

Inside the celebrated novelist’s first and only nonfiction essay.

June 15, 2023

Does Dream Inception Work? 

One MIT-trained poet spent nine months trying to find out.

June 14, 2023

We’ll Miss the Vulture

Ecosystems are suffering without their invaluable scavenger, victim of a bad reputation.

June 13, 2023

Why We Hallucinate Supernatural Explanations

We’re not so different from an error-prone chatbot.

June 13, 2023

Is Morality in Decline?

One question for Adam Mastroianni, a psychologist at Columbia University.

June 12, 2023

Forget What You Think You Know About Emotions

Emotions don’t happen to you; your brain creates them.

June 9, 2023

The Perilous Life of the Solitary Pangolin

Poached to the edge of extinction, the bashful animals are getting by with a little help from their friends in Africa.

June 9, 2023