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Nature loves to play. And play is the thing throughout this issue. Indre Viskontas takes
us inside the concert hall to explain how musical ensemble tap into brain wells
of creativity and empathy that can’t be reached by going it alone. We also look
at a dark side of play. Barclay Bram shares his everyday experiences with the
app WeChat, which nearly everybody in China uses to connect in play and work
and everything in between.      

  • Article Recirculation Lead Image

    Inside an Exploded Star

    Cassiopeia A gets a close-up.
  • Article Recirculation Lead Image

    Automatic for the Oceans

    A rock trio on the rise is raising environmental awareness.
  • Article Recirculation Lead Image

    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.” There are two ways to participate. You can send us your questions before […]
  • Forest-for-the-Trees

    Forest for the Trees—Why We Recognize Faces & Constellations

    A Ganado-style Navajo rugNational Park Service 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 rugs. We see symmetry in more fluid, modern media, too, like the […]
  • The Universe, Expanding Symmetrically

    The Universe, Expanding Symmetrically and Eternally

      Two months ago, we learned of landmark evidence bolstering the theory of inflation, a period very soon after the Big Bang when the Universe expanded at a terrific rate, stretching out and smoothing its lumps, and making it remarkably consistent on large scales. A recent study confirms that, even 13.8 billion years after the […]
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