Issue_72
18 articles-
Why Working-Class New Yorkers Drop Their “Rs”
William Labov took something as small as one letter and showed how a subtle detail of our language could tell who we are.Photograph by Everett Historical / Shutterstock In George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion, professor Henry Higgins says: “You can spot an Irishman or a Yorkshireman by his brogue. I can place any man within […] -
Game of Thrones and the Evolutionary Significance of Storytelling
Why do we hate narratives that go wrong? -
The Ancient Rites That Gave Birth to Religion
Sacred beliefs likely arose out of prehistoric bonding and rituals. -
The Worth of an Angry God
How supernatural beliefs allowed societies to bond and spread. -
What an Extinct Bird Re-Evolving Says About “Species”
How could the same species evolve more than once?Photograph by Janos Rautonen / Flickr You may have heard the news of what sounds like a resurrection story on the small island of Aldabra, off the coast of Madagascar. Around 136,000 years ago, the island was submerged in water and a layer of limestone captured the […]
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The Problem with Using the Term “Fake News” in Medicine
While misinformation can sway elections and threaten public institutions, medical falsehoods can threaten people’s health, or even their lives.Photograph by Ugo Cutilli / Flickr Here’s one way to rid society of “fake news”—abandon the term altogether. Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . That’s what a U.K. committee recommended that […]
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What Ancient Romans Used Instead of Toilet Paper
Our ancient Roman would simply wipe him- or herself, rinse the tersorium in whatever was available (running water and/or a bucket of vinegar or salt water), and leave it for the next person to use.Photograph by Kapustin Igor / Shutterstock We’ve all been caught unawares by our digestive tract at one time or another. Nautilus […]
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Evolution Is Really Not That Into Sex
Plants and animals have reproduced without sex for eons. So why did nature bother?
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The English Word That Hasn’t Changed in Sound or Meaning in 8,000 Years
The word lox was one of the clues that eventually led linguists to discover who the Proto-Indo-Europeans were, and where they lived.Photograph by Helen Cook / Flickr One of my favorite words is lox,” says Gregory Guy, a professor of linguistics at New York University. There is hardly a more quintessential New York food than […]
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Dark Matter Gets a Reprieve in New Analysis
Reprinted with permission from Quanta Magazine’s Abstractions blog.The galactic center shines too brightly, like the glow of a metropolis at night where maps show only a town. To mend their cosmic cartography, astrophysicists have spent years debating what could be powering this excess of energetic light. In 2015 the arguments appeared to swing decisively in […] -
Are Animal Experiments Justified?
A neuroscientist confronts his anguish over experimenting on animals. -
The “Emodiversity” of Star Wars
What the hyper-rational Vulcan Spock represents, psychologist Igor Grossman said, is “uniform emotional down-regulation,” whereas the hallmark of Yoda’s judgment style is his ability to “recognize and balance a wide range of emotions”—a key aspect of wisdom.Star Wars / YouTube This past “Star Wars Day,” May 4, I watched some of the original trilogy a […] -
Human Exceptionalism Stifles Progress
The aversion to playing God is not just about God. -
Tantalizing Creatures with Male and Female Genes
Gyandromorphs overturn traditional theories of sexual development.
