Issue_66
15 articles-
How Einstein Reconciled Religion to Science
He believed the lawful harmony of the universe suggested the existence of Spinoza‘s God. -
Are There Bacteria in Your Brain?
A surprising new result catches the attention of the neuroscience community. -
The $100 Million Bot Heist
The story of the world’s most-wanted cybercriminal. -
The Present Phase of Stagnation in the Foundations of Physics Is Not Normal
The problem is loads of wrong predictions from theoretical physicists.Photograph by Inga Nielsen / Shutterstock Nothing is moving in the foundations of physics. One experiment after the other is returning null results: No new particles, no new dimensions, no new symmetries. Sure, there are some anomalies in the data here and there, and maybe one of them will turn out to be real news. But […] -
Herbicide Is What’s for Dinner
How the biggest farming practice you’ve never heard of is changing your food.
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Butterfly Wonk Robert Pyle Pens His First Novel 44 Years in the Making
Ecologist Robert Michael Pyle’s imaginative treatment of the nonhuman world—he includes a butterfly and a mountain among his cast of characters—is both a surprise and perhaps a natural result of his artistic development.Counterpoint Press The acclaimed author, naturalist, and ecologist Robert Michael Pyle has been investigating the butterfly for about 60 years. In that time […]
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World’s Oldest Fossils Now Appear to Be Squished Rocks
Reprinted with permission from Quanta Magazine’s Abstractions blog.In August 2016, a research team claimed to have unearthed evidence of life in a remote outcrop of 3.7-billion-year-old rocks in Greenland. This bold claim not only pushed back the origin of life by at least 220 million years, it also added to a growing body of evidence that challenged the standard story of […]
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The Problem with Scientific Credit
Our algorithm said a courtesy driver should have won the Nobel Prize.
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The Woman Who Reinvented the Moon
A MacArthur “genius grant” winner writes a new lunar origin story. -
What’s Wrong with Bananas
How industrial agriculture stole sex from our most important fresh fruit crop. -
We Need an FDA For Algorithms
UK mathematician Hannah Fry on the promise and danger of an AI world. -
Why Do Taxonomists Write the Meanest Obituaries?
The open nature of the science of classification virtually guarantees fights.
