The Dark Side of Original Thinking
Lying and cheating might be indispensable in planning a surprise party, or a surprise heist. Is creativity always a moral good?
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Darren Staples / Reuters Could Ancient Humans Have Lived as Long as We Do?
Across time and place, our species’ life span is remarkably consistent.
Eddie Keogh / Reuters Tiny Suns Are Transforming the Search for Extraterrestrial Life
It’s time to set aside the “Earth Twin” strategy.
NASA / JPL-Caltech / R. Hurt (IPAC) Can Scientific Discovery Be Automated?
Progress in the sciences can only move as fast as humans can think—outsourcing to A.I. could change that.
Bettmann / Getty Why Space Operas Will Never Come True
The universe is just too big.
Amir Dalsh / Reuters Why Fractals Are So Soothing
Jackson Pollock’s paintings mirror nature’s patterns, like branching trees, snowflakes, waves—and the structure of the human eye.
Morteza Nikoubazl / Reuters What Happens If You Stick Your Head in a Particle Accelerator?
It’s a great physics thought experiment—and an awful accident in 1978.
Pierre Albouy / Reuters Kids Aren't Interested in Moral Conflict
Adults admire people who overcome temptation, but children judge them for feeling tempted in the first place.
Michaela Rehle / Reuters The Mysterious Physics of Rainbows
Scientists have been refining their understanding of rainbows’ unusual features since René Descartes first studied them in 1637.
Andrew Winning / Reuters How the Drunken Monkey Hypothesis Explains Our Taste for Liquor
Early apes’ ability to metabolize alcohol increased about 20-fold due to a single-point mutation in their genes.
CDIC / Reuters
