One dreary Tuesday, Leó Szilárd took a walk. Crossing the street, he realized that nuclear reactions could be maintained by the neutrons they themselves produced. A self-sustaining nuclear reactor became a reality nine years later, and the bomb in another three. This issue, we watch dominoes fall in human lives, across the oceans and under cities. They even crash the stock market. The end result? It’s hard to say—which is kind of the point.
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An Earthy Fallen Star
The strange mushroom that puffs life into forests around the world. -
Inside an Exploded Star
Cassiopeia A gets a close-up. -
Automatic for the Oceans
A rock trio on the rise is raising environmental awareness. -
Join Nautilus Live—Get the Truth About Sun Exposure
Join us at noon on Monday, June 9, when editor in chief Michael Segal will host a live video chat with award-winning journalist and NYU professor, Jessica Seigel about her latest Nautilus piece, “America Is Getting the Science of Sun Exposure Wrong.” Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . There […] -
Forest for the Trees—Why We Recognize Faces & Constellations
A Ganado-style Navajo rugNational Park Service Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . For many thousands of years, and across cultures around the world, symmetry has been seen as beautiful. The mirror-image accuracy of the Parthenon is seen also in the Taj Mahal and the geometric patterns of traditional Navajo […]