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The Deep Time of Walden Pond

The science and history of the lake Thoreau made famous.

April 13, 2018

How My Nobel Dream Bit the Dust

My team thought we’d proved cosmological inflation. We were wrong.

April 13, 2018

The Case Against Lectures

Depending on the speaker, lectures can be a joy, but, the efficacy of the lecture, as a teaching method, is in doubt.

April 10, 2018

Pick the Statistic You Want to Be

Understanding the odds lets you play with them.

Quantum Correlations Reverse Thermodynamic Arrow of Time

A recent experiment shows how quantum mechanics can make heat flow from a cold body to a hot one, an apparent (though not real) violation of the second law of thermodynamics.

April 3, 2018

Why Is the Human Brain So Efficient?

How massive parallelism lifts the brain’s performance above that of AI.

April 3, 2018

How the Fencing Reflex Connects Life and Death

Primitive reflexes shepherd us into this world, and out.

April 3, 2018

The Woman Redeemed by Trees

A story about connection by the National Book Award winner.

April 3, 2018

The Self Is Other People

Our very sense of who we are is intertwined with what we see when we see other people look at us.

April 2, 2018