Issue_59
17 articles-
This Famous Aging Researcher Doesn’t Want Us to Live Forever
In the Netflix anime series Knights of Sidonia, humankind is marooned in a spaceship 500,000-strong, refugees constantly on the run from shapeshifting aliens who destroyed Earth over 1,000 years ago. Both the patriarchy and poverty have been smashed. Advances in genetic engineering have allowed androgynous individuals to proliferate and asexual reproduction to become commonplace. Everybody […] -
You’re a Bad Judge of How Good-looking You Are
Why are we such bad judges of how others see us? Epley’s answer is that other people are novices about us, while we’re experts.“The Green Mirror” (1911) by Guy Rose / Wikicommons There’s the full-body bedroom mirror, the bathroom mirror, and the trusty living-room mirror, the one closest to the front door—the last one I […] -
Why Water Is Weird
One day, frustrated after many hours of meditation and practice, Bruce Lee, still a teenager, went sailing. His martial arts teacher, Yip Man, had been instructing Lee in the art of detachment, a key facet of gung fu. Lee couldn’t let go. “On the sea I thought of all my past training and got mad […] -
Why Some Sports Fans Have More Fun
How mirror neurons affect the experience of fandom. -
Another Side of Feynman
Nine letters by Freeman Dyson portray his relationship with the Nobel Laureate.
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What Is It Like to Be a Dolphin?
Maybe dolphins are more “tuned in” with the world around them, by necessity: a holistic blend of the physical, sensory, and cognitive, all seamless enough to remember to go up for air. Photograph by Matthew Baya / Flickr Humans have come to fetishize dolphins: their smiles, their penchant for heavy petting, and they imbue their […]
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The Case for More Pox Research
The horsepox virus could be the basis of an improved smallpox vaccine, more effective and with fewer side effects than the currently available vaccines.Colored etching, “Edward Jenner vaccinating patients in the Smallpox and Inoculation Hospital at St. Pancras: the patients develop features of cows,” by James Gillray / Wikicommons Last year, when news broke that […]
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Freeman Dyson on How Robert Oppenheimer Ran Hot and Cold
Robert Oppenheimer could be extremely generous and friendly or he could be very harsh. He was very quick to judge and decide that somebody was no good, and then that was final.Photograph by Ed Westcott (U.S. Government photographer) / Wikicommons Kai Bird is miffed. His 2005 Pulitzer Prize-winning book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy […]
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Announcing a New Science Magazine from Yale
The need for specialization and caution in the scientific community is no excuse for its members to renege on the responsibility to engage with the larger community of people we serve.Image courtesy Ancient Fund of the Library of the University of Seville / Flickr Open any newspaper, on-screen or off, and you’ll find that scientific […]
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The Case Against Lectures
Depending on the speaker, lectures can be a joy, but, the efficacy of the lecture, as a teaching method, is in doubt. -
The Case Against an Autonomous Military
The potential harm of AIs deliberately designed to kill in warfare is much more pressing than self-driving car accidents.Photograph by Airman 1st Class James Thompson / U.S. Air Force In 2016, a Mercedes-Benz executive was quoted as saying that the company’s self-driving autos would put the safety of its own occupants first. This comment brought […] -
Pick the Statistic You Want to Be
Understanding the odds lets you play with them. -
Why Is the Human Brain So Efficient?
How massive parallelism lifts the brain’s performance above that of AI. -
How the Fencing Reflex Connects Life and Death
Primitive reflexes shepherd us into this world, and out.
