Issue_108

On a bright March morning as wildlife photographer Oriol Alamany tucked into breakfast on the island of Socotra, an Egyptian vulture landed on a nearby rock. Caught without proper equipment, Alamany crawled across the ground to photograph the bird from below at close range with a small camera he kept in his pocket. The vulture […]

A planetary scientist explains why SpaceX’s Starship will transform her field.

 If you’re an athlete—even a very occasional one—odds are you’ve dealt with a muscle injury at some point. After all, muscle injuries account for 10 to 55 percent of sports traumas. Often they’re just a nuisance—say, a minor strain that takes you a couple days to get back on your feet. But severely injured muscles, […]

Our planet supports 8.7 million species. Here’s how they break down.

AI could learn and adapt like humans with algorithms that work like genes.

Contrary to what the philosopher said, passion can be a slave to reason.

The psychologist unpacks rationality and denies being a guru to the capitalist elite.

Revisiting C.P. Snow’s infamous thesis.

Debating a modern parable about waste and technology.

How the sewage plant in our nation’s capital spins human poop into fertilizer gold.