Issue_48
22 articles-
What Pushes a Person to Suicide?
In a 2005 review, titled “Dissecting the suicide phenotype: The role of impulsive-aggressive behaviours,” Gustavo Turecki, an expert on suicide at McGill University, argues that impulsivity is a crucial aspect of suicide.Photograph by Andrew Toskin / Flickr One May day five years ago, an ambulance arrived for me. My eyes were twitching, hands shaking, thoughts […] -
Why Synthetic Protein Research Needs More Funding
The ability to create and explore such synthetic proteins with atomic level accuracy has the potential to unlock new areas of basic research and to create practical applications in a wide range of fields.Image by G. Indelicato, P. Burkhard, R. Twarock / Royal Society Open Science Proteins are the workhorses of all living creatures, fulfilling […] -
Ingenious: Dalton Conley
The Princeton sociologist explains why race is not a scientific category. -
The Inflated Debate Over Cosmic Inflation
Why the majority of physicists are on one side of a recent exchange of letters. -
What Both the Left and Right Get Wrong About Race
Setting the scientific record straight on race, IQ, and success.
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How a Kids’ Cartoon Created a Real-Life Invasive Army
Once upon a time, raccoons were strangers to the island of Japan, save for the occasional critter kept in a zoo. That all changed when Araiguma Rasukaru aired and turned a nation onto raccoons’ inherent charm. Tales of monsters invading Japan are a longstanding tradition, usually involving menacing kaiju—literally “strange creatures”—rising from the sea to […]
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Why Trump Would Enjoy Being a Consciousness Researcher
Sure, Donald Trump usually isn’t one for heady or complex matters. His business roles—promoting steaks, golf courses, and casinos—haven’t been particularly rigorous, in an intellectual sense. The closest he came was with Trump University (although, among other problems, its use of the word “university” to describe its operations violated New York State law.) Nautilus Members […]
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The Oldest Problem in American Prisons
U.S. prisons aren’t prepared for an inmate population that is getting older and sicker.
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The Moral Importance of Understanding Consciousness
As we get better and better ideas of what is conscious and what is not, they might change the kinds of experiments we will be able to comfortably and ethically perform.“The Scream” (1893) by Edvard Munch Debating whether other beings are conscious can sometimes feel like an unimportant academic exercise. But it’s not. The conclusion […]
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The Physicist Who Denies Dark Matter
Maybe Newtonian physics doesn’t need dark matter to work. -
To Become a Better Investor, Think Like Darwin
“It’s not surprising that the fight-or-flight response is not going to be the most helpful way to deal with a financial crash in the same way that it’s going to be helpful when you’re being attacked in a back alley. It’s because financial markets and financial threats are a relatively new phenomenon.”Photograph by Kenishirotie / […] -
If ET Calls, Think Twice About Answering
Why some say searching for ET is best done quietly. -
A Little Paternalism in Medicine Is a Good Thing
Informed consent has its limits. It isn’t always ideal to treat the patient as a consumer in the decision-making process.Photograph by Monkey Business Images / Shutterstock My family had lived in America for only a handful of years when my grandfather had a heart attack. It was the early 1980s, before statins and baby aspirins […] -
The Case for Less Solidarity
The surprising effects of reducing empathy for your own ingroup.
