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Nautilus

Sabine Hossenfelder is a theoretical physicist at the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy, in Germany, focusing on modifications of general relativity, phenomenological quantum gravity, and the foundations of quantum mechanics. She is the creative director of the YouTube channel <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1yNl2E66ZzKApQdRuTQ4tw">“Science without the gobbledygook”</a> where she talks about recent scientific developments and debunks hype. Her latest book is <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/616868/existential-physics-by-sabine-hossenfelder/">Existential Physics: A Scientist’s Guide to Life’s Biggest Questions</a>. Follow her on X (formerly known as Twitter) <a href="https://twitter.com/skdh">@skdh</a>.

Sabine Hossenfelder

Technology

A Reality Check on Superhuman AI

Tom Metcalfe is a science journalist based in London, where he writes mainly about space, energy, archaeology, Earth, and the oceans. He has written for Scientific American, National Geographic, Live Science, NBC News, BBC News, and others.

Tom Metcalfe

Arts

Bringing Mars to Earth with Music

Walter Murch’s six decades in cinema as film editor, sound mixer, writer, and director include work on The Godfather trilogy, American Graffiti, The Conversation, Apocalypse Now, The English Patient, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Cold Mountain, and many other films. Murch has been nominated for nine Academy Awards and has won three Oscars: for Best Sound on Apocalypse Now and for Best Film Editing and Best Sound for his work on The English Patient. This essay is adapted from his book, Suddenly Something Clicked, to be published in 2025.

Walter Murch

History

The Force Was with Them

Ferris Jabr is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine and the author of <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/623907/becoming-earth-by-ferris-jabr/">Becoming Earth: How Our Planet Came to Life</a>. He has also written for The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Harper&#8217;s, Outside, WIRED, and National Geographic. His work has thrice been anthologized in The Best American Science and Nature Writing series.

Ferris Jabr

Environment

How Life Made Our Earth

Kristen French is an associate editor at Nautilus. She has worked in science journalism since 2013, reporting and writing features and news for publications such as Wired, Backchannel, The Verge, and New York Magazine. She has a masters degree in science journalism from Columbia University.

Kristen French

Zoology

A Tiny Insect with Extraordinary Piss

Tom Roeper is a professor of linguistics at the University of Massachusetts who has studied child language for over 40 years. He is the author of The <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262512589/the-prism-of-grammar/">Prism of Grammar</a>, from which this article is excerpted.

Tom Roeper

Communication

The Cognitive Magic of “Hi”

Julie Sedivy is a language scientist who has taught at Brown University and the University of Calgary. She is the author of Memory Speaks: On Losing and Reclaiming Language and Self. Her latest book, Linguaphile: A Life of Language Love, will be released in October 2024.

Julie Sedivy

When Kids Talk to Machines

Nautilus Editors

Introducing the Nautilus Summer Reading List

Elena Kazamia is a science writer from Greece. She has a master’s degree in conservation from University College London and a Ph.D. in plant sciences from the University of Cambridge in the U.K.

Elena Kazamia

The Leather of the Future

The Oldest Ecosystems on Earth

Renée Bergland is professor of literature and creative writing at Simmons University in Boston. She is the author of several books, including <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691235288/natural-magic">Natural Magic: Emily Dickinson, Charles Darwin, and the Dawn of Modern Science</a>, Maria Mitchell and the Sexing of Science: An Astronomer among the American Romantics, and The National Uncanny: Indian Ghosts and American Subjects.

Renée Bergland

Magic Died When Art and Science Split

Aubrey Clayton is an applied mathematical researcher, lecturer, and writer. He is the child of two math teachers and the author of <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/bernoullis-fallacy/9780231199940">Bernoulli’s Fallacy: Statistical Illogic and the Crisis of Modern Science</a>.

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