All Articles
The 19th-Century Trippers Who Probed the Mind
In the age of self-experiment, scientists took mind-altering drugs to test the limits of subjectivity.
When Disease Comes for the Scientist
The nurse told him: You have malaria—the kind that kills you. So why wasn’t it killing the birds?
Why Conscious AI Is a Bad, Bad Idea
Our minds haven’t evolved to deal with machines we believe have consciousness.
Why Do So Many Moons Have Oceans?
One question for Julie Castillo-Rogez, a planetary geophysicist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Tiny Jets on the Sun Power the Colossal Solar Wind
A new analysis argues that ubiquitous eruptions in the sun’s corona explain the vast flow of charged particles seen streaming out through the solar system.
Searching for Life Under a Methane Rain
What future missions to Saturn's moon Titan will reveal about the universe.
The Ocean Is Missing Its Rivers
For billions of years, rivers connected continents to the sea. Then we came along.
Faulty Memory Is a Feature, Not a Bug
Forgetting and misremembering are the building blocks of creativity and imagination.
When Are We OK with Getting Bribed?
One question for Nils Köbis, a social psychologist at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development.
The Ancient Architecture that Defies Earthquakes
Stone buildings in northern India reveal secrets of old structures that could save lives.
Fish Are Not Insentient Dullards
More stimulating environments for captive fish could improve scientific research.
