Issue_4

39 articles
  • Berger_HERO_2

    Revisiting “Moneyball” with Paul DePodesta

    Shattering preconceptions about players isn’t all about the numbers.
  • Article Recirculation Lead Image

    Hunting for Eclipses as Perfect as Earth’s

    Roughly twice a year, the apparent positions of Sun and Moon coincide, and a fortunate few observers are treated to a solar eclipse. Watching such an event provides the opportunity to contemplate a strange coincidence: From the surface of Earth, the apparent sizes of the Sun and Moon in the sky are nearly equal. The […]
  • Article Recirculation Lead Image

    Unlikely Story: Truth Is Stranger Than Pulp Fiction

    A few weeks we asked you for your most unlikely stories—the kinds of things that make you scratch your head and think, “What are the chances?” Here’s one from one of Nautilus’ own editors. Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . Chanting can, apparently, be a pretty good marketing tool. […]
  • crop circle

    Unwinding the Mystery of Namibia’s Natural Crop Circles

    The Himba bushmen who inhabit the Namibian grasslands—a 1,200-mile-long swath of land running from Angola into South Africa—have come up with different stories over the years to explain the unusual circular bare patches, called “fairy circles,” dotted throughout the grassy expanse. These reddish-hued circles, sometimes several feet in diameter, are dubbed “footprints of the gods,” […]
  • sole survivor

    The Curse of Being a Sole Survivor

    On January 26, 1972, a Yugoslavian passenger plane flying 33,000 feet above then-Czechoslovakia exploded, ripped apart, and plummeted into the ground, killing 27 of the 28 passengers and crew. Vesna Vulovic, a flight attendant, was the only one to survive the crash. Vulovic holds the Guinness World Record for surviving the highest fall without a […]
  • Olinguito

    How Unicorns Evolved Into Rhinos, Goblin Sharks & Olinguitos

    Earlier this month there was a rare announcement, promoted widely by the press: a new mammal species had been discovered, the first carnivorous mammal identified in the Americas for 35 years. But the olinguito, as the raccoon-like carnivore is now known, was not spotted for its surprising looks or remarkable behaviors that set it apart […]

  • swordfish hero

    Unlikely Story: The Swordfish With a Nose Ring

    A few weeks we asked you for your most unlikely stories—the kinds of things that make you scratch your head and think, “What are the chances?” Last week we published a birthday coincidence. Here’s another one of our favorite stories, this one submitted by Dan Clem. Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or […]

  • GRB 110328A

    The Freaky Celestial Events We See—and the Ones We Don’t

    On March 28, 2011, the orbiting Swift observatory spotted an extraordinary gamma-ray burst, a bright source of energetic light from a distant galaxy. Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are some of the brightest and most energetic events in the cosmos. Their measurable strong emission in most cases vanishes after about 30 seconds, but this particular event—known as […]

  • Iowa tornado

    Why Everyone Thinks They’re Safer Than Average

    It’s an odd quirk of the human mind that we tend to think we’re less likely to be affected a particular threat—be it the flu, a car accident, or a flood—than anyone else. Like the fictional town of Lake Wobegon, where all the children are above average, this is a patent impossibility: Everyone can’t be […]

  • cabinet_FSR_HERO

    Mystery Solved: Who Cracked the Cabinet of Curiosities?

    Last week, we challenged Nautilus readers to name a whole cabinet-full of freaky, weird, and wonderful objects. It was a difficult challenge, but now is the time to end your agonizing wait and reveal the secrets of our wunderkammern, our “cabinet of wonder.” Here are the answers: Pompeii wall art Dinosaur coprolite Shroud of Turin Marilyn Monroe autograph […]

  • quarterly_HERO

    Curl Up With Nautilus

    Own it forever. For $4 a month.