Issue_81

22 articles

- Communication
Should Scientists Use the Phrase “Quantum Supremacy”?
- By Brian Gallagher
- February 25, 2020
Forget for a moment that you know the meaning of “quantum supremacy,” the idea of a quantum computer outdoing its conventional counterpart. What does the phrase instantly bring to mind? Perhaps the idea that the quantum world, with its electrons, neutrons, and quarks, is, somehow, better than ours—more dazzling and awe-inspiring. Or perhaps it’s the […]
- Anthropology
Why Doesn’t Everybody Have Dark Skin Today?
- By Steve Paulson
- February 19, 2020
Questions and answers about the science of skin color.
- Health
What Really Inflamed the Coronavirus Epidemic
- By Ryan Manuel
- February 19, 2020
Censorship didn’t worsen the deadly virus outbreak. Incompetence did.
- Math
Color-Changing Material Unites the Math and Physics of Knots
- By Devin Powell
- February 18, 2020
Reprinted with permission from Quanta Magazine’s Abstractions blog. Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . One sunny day in the summer of 2019, Mathias Kolle, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, took a couple of eminent colleagues out sailing. They talked about their research. They had some drinks. Then […]
- Psychology
There’s No Homunculus In Our Brain Who Guides Us
- By M.R. O’Connor
- February 18, 2020
Why the cognitive-map theory is misguided.

Why We Love to Be Grossed Out

Disgust may not be a straightforward extension of the immune system’s aversion to harmful substances, but rather “a psychological nebula, lacking definite boundaries, discrete internal structure, or a single center of gravity,” says psychologist Nina Strohminger.Photograph by Star Stock / Flickr Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . Nina Strohminger, […]
- By Marco Altamirano
- February 15, 2020
How Geology Can Ease Your Mind

Take comfort that we live on a very old, durable planet.
- By Marcia Bjornerud
- February 12, 2020
Mapping Gay-Friendly Cities Through History

A data analyst uncovers a timeless message about correlation.
- By Alexander Boxer
- February 12, 2020
Why Shouldn’t a Horsefly Be Named After Beyoncé?

At best, names for species derived from celebrities and scientists become maps to hidden treasure, rewarding those who follow the trail of clues with stories of fascinating people and human history.Photograph by Ronald Woan / Flickr Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . David Bowie and Beyoncé never shared a […]
- By Stephen Heard
- February 11, 2020
Never Say Wolf

How taboo language turned the wolf into a monster.
- By David Adger
- February 10, 2020
This Psychological Concept Could Be Shaping the Presidential Election

Could Warren’s political fate in 2020 turn on voters who think she would make a great president choosing another candidate because they think that’s what their neighbors will do?Photograph by Maverick Pictures / Shutterstock Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . Not too long ago, I briefly met Elizabeth Warren […]
- By Erika Weisz
- February 9, 2020

- Sociology
The Cultural Distances Between Us
- By Brian Gallagher
- February 6, 2020
Mapping the world’s psychological traits.
- Genetics
The John, Paul, George, and Ringo of Genes
- By Yvonne Bang
- February 5, 2020
A pictorial map of the genes that unite all life.
- Astronomy
Why Astrology Matters
- By Michael Brooks
- February 5, 2020
Seeing meaning in the stars is a vital part of the scientific story.
- Astronomy
How Ancient Light Reveals the Universe’s Contents
- By Charlie Wood
- January 30, 2020
Reprinted with permission from Quanta Magazine’s Abstractions blog. Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . In early 2003, Chuck Bennett learned the precise contents of the cosmos.By then, most cosmologists had concluded that the universe contains much more than meets the eye. Observations of pinwheeling galaxies suggested that scaffolds of invisible matter […]
- History
We Are All Ancient Mapmakers
- By Cody Kommers
- January 29, 2020
Why we still see the world like the mathematician and poet who first mapped it.