Steve Paulson
Why Humans Wage War
War is purposeful and calculating. The more organized we are, the better we get at fighting.
Your Brain Makes You a Different Person Every Day
Our brains are wired for new sensations.
Eels Don’t Have Sex Until the Last Year of Their Life
Why eels are one strange fish.
The Contagion Detective
Adam Kucharski explains how diseases like COVID-19 and misinformation spread.
Guided by Plant Voices
Plants talk to this ecologist. They tell her how to do better science.
Why Philip Pullman Is Obsessed with Panpsychism
In the first book of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, The Golden Compass, Lord Asriel (played by James McAvoy in HBO’s adaptation of the book) discovers a mysterious substance, called Dust, that exists everywhere and seems to be implicated in consciousness. For Pullman, Dust is an expression of his fascination with panpsychism, the philosophical idea […]
Why Doesn’t Everybody Have Dark Skin Today?
Questions and answers about the science of skin color.
Why We’re Drawn Into Darkness
Author Robert MacFarlane on the awe and horror of subterranean places.
The Ancient Rites That Gave Birth to Religion
Sacred beliefs likely arose out of prehistoric bonding and rituals.
Yuval Noah Harari Is Worried About Our Souls
The big-data makeover of humanity could be a recipe for disaster.