Amos Zeeberg
INVISIBLE NUMERALS
Scientists aren’t exactly sure how many new mutations crop up each generation in humans—for years, the standard estimate was round 100-200, but one 2011 study, using whole genome information from two families, has put it at about 30-50. And the rate of mutation is more than a curiosity: Seeing how many mutations separate us from […]
Seeing the Galactic Forest for the Trees
To solve a mystery, scientists often zoom in on it as close as they can, break the puzzling system down to its components, and analyze it piece by piece. Sometimes, comprehending a system requires just the opposite: pulling back to see the bigger picture. Sometimes that bigger picture is bigger than our galaxy, in which […]
The Uncertainty Baked Into NSA Surveillance—and the Internet
Over the weekend, more details emerged about the U.S. federal government’s no-longer-secret digital-surveillance program code-named PRISM. The project gave the National Security Agency (NSA) and other agencies unprecedented access to data, like emails and chats, going through popular services owned by Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and other Internet giants. After this additional information about PRISM seeped […]
The End of Human Uniqueness, and a New Beginning
Today Nautilus launched its second issue, “Uncertainty: A new look at an indeterminate world.” For now we’ve just opened up the first chapter, “Uncertainty in Nature,” with looks at how uncertainty is embedded in math, particles of matter, our genomes, and possibly space-time itself. The rest of the issue will emerge over the course of […]
Guide the Future of Nautilus
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Romance, Meaning, Science, and You
Welcome to Nautilus’ blog, “Facts So Romantic”! The name, if you didn’t see the note on the blog’s homepage, refers to a quote from Jules Verne: “Reality provides us with facts so romantic that imagination itself could add nothing to them.” (Verne also helped name the magazine itself; the amazingly hi-tech submarine from 20,000 Leagues […]