Issue_19
27 articles-
The Long, Hard Quest to Create Digital Smells
Of all of the wondrous feats accomplished by Willy Wonka in his candy factory, the most impressive may have been wedging an entire meal into just one unassuming stick of gum: Upon popping it in your mouth and chewing, you’d first taste tomato soup, then roast beef and baked potato, and finally blueberry pie and […] -
What to Do When Your Brain Insists You’re Always on a Boat
Zvonimir Orec via Shutterstock Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . Last July, Chris Perry went on an Alaskan cruise with her family to celebrate her parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. When she boarded the massive Norwegian Sun cruise ship, she felt “a little woozy and weird” from the boat’s […] -
The Last Word with Jonathan Weiner
The more science knows, the more rich and mysterious the world becomes. -
The New Way to Save Money: Playing the Lottery
Chris Goldberg via Flickr Lotteries have often been called a tax on the poor and, alternately, a tax on the innumerate. There is something to both claims: Lottery tickets are disproportionately bought by lower-income people, and in aggregate the players win back only a small percentage of the money spent on tickets. Overall, lotteries suck […] -
When Does a Consciousness Test Not Test for Consciousness?
A pigeon looks at its reflection in the mirror. It sees a blue dot on the reflection’s breast. It reaches down and pecks at the dot on its own breast.This is the classic behavior required for passing the “mirror test,” an influential experiment used to test for self-awareness in animals. Chimpanzees became the first animal […]
-
The Loneliest Genius
Isaac Newton spurned social contact but also relied on it for his greatest work.
-
The Rhythm of the Tide
When I heard data from an island had proven humans are still evolving, I had to visit.
-
Why Are We So Obsessed With Mugshot Hotties?
On June 18, a photo of a very handsome man was posted on the Web. It wasn’t intended to “break the Internet” Kardashian-style, but that’s pretty much what happened, if only on a slightly smaller scale. Within 48 hours, the portrait garnered 62,000 “Likes” on Facebook and became an online spectacle. Today the Like count […]
-
How Star Trek May Show the Emergence of Human Consciousness
The Borg capture Captain Jean-Luc Picard and turn him into Locutus, all but erasing his previous identity.CBS Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . Captain Picard: “How do we reason with them, let them know that we are not a threat?” Guinan: “You don’t. At least, I’ve never known […]
-
What Radar Guns Can’t Tell you About the Speed of Pitches
Paul L Dineen via Flickr Baseball is a fiddly sport. There are countless arbitrary-seeming rules and odd traditions. People who are not familiar with the game sometimes find it near-impossible to understand (and, partly as a consequence, near-impossible to watch). But under the complexity is simplicity: a pitcher throwing a ball and a batter trying […]
-
Take Light, Not Drugs
How light therapy can treat disorders from depression to Alzheimer’s disease. -
How Your Brain Gaslights You—for Your Own Good
Nailia Schwarz via Shutterstock Runners can tell you that sometimes the last mile of a run seems to feel dramatically longer than the first. This perceptual distortion isn’t limited to brains addled by exercise—it’s a consistent feature of our minds. Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . When we […] -
Ingenious: Christof Koch
The neuroscientist tackles consciousness and the self. -
The Curse of the Unlucky Mummy
When science and fear collide, a supernatural story thrives. -
When Bad Things Happen in Slow Motion
Is there more to our experience of time than the foibles of memory?