For the curious

The Atlantic · 2026-09-10

The Women Obsessed with Lindsay Clancy

by Stephanie McCrummen

The Guardian (Long Read) · 2026-09-10

‘This is Dangerous’: Slime Moulds and the Bitter Debate Over the Nature of Intelligence

by Samanth Subramanian

If a single cell can solve a maze, does a mind really need a brain?

Psyche · 2026-09-10

Why Some Men Seek Refuge in Ever Bigger Muscles

by Tom Wooldridge

When a man is taught to fear his own softness, what is he building in the gym?

The Atlantic · 2026-09-10

Taking Care of the Father Who Broke My Heart

by Jenisha Watts

How do you care for a dying father who saved his happiest moments for someone else?

Astral Codex Ten · 2026-09-09

God Help Us, Let’s Try to Learn About Mechanistic Interpretability Techniques

by Scott Alexander

If a machine is just a giant list of numbers, why is its mind so hard to read?

Aeon · 2026-09-09

Our Eloquent Hands

by Alison Bashford

When doctors check the lines on a newborn's palm, what are they actually reading?

The Atlantic · 2026-09-09

You Can Know Too Much About Your Genes

by Elizabeth Bruenig

How do you live with a genetic warning that might not mean anything at all?

Vox · 2026-09-08

My Students Think It’s Fine to Cheat with AI. Maybe They’re Onto Something.

by Sigal Samuel

Psyche · 2026-09-08

Is It Morally Wrong to Not Take Care of Yourself?

by Laura K Soter & Fan Yang

If the only person you hurt is yourself, have you still committed a moral wrong?

Scroll.in · 2026-09-07

Greek-Roman Philosopher Plutarch’s Ancient Advice for How to Be Happier Online

by Matthew Sharpe, The Conversation

Can an ancient philosopher's advice on ignoring street graffiti help break a modern scrolling habit?

The Atlantic · 2026-09-07

Why Wendell Berry Didn’t Worry About the Future

by Joe Fassler

The Conversation · 2026-09-07

Many Space Missions Are Searching for Life Beyond Earth – but Are We Prepared for the Fallout if They Succeed?

by Karryl Kim Sagun Trajano, Research Fellow for Future Issues and Technology, Nanyang Technological University

What happens on Earth the day a space probe finds a living microbe on another planet?

The Atlantic · 2026-09-07

How the Early Dreams of the Internet Changed

by Jake Lundberg

If the internet was supposed to set people free, why is everyone living in little boxes?

The Conversation · 2026-09-07

Everyone Experiences Loss and Grief – but That Doesn’t Make It Any Easier to Talk with Kids About It

by Keisha M. Wint, Assistant Professor of Social Work, Binghamton University, State University of New York

When adults say someone went to sleep, what does a grieving child actually hear?

The Guardian (Long Read) · 2026-09-07

Ping-pong Sponges, ‘black Smokers’ and Floating Somethings: the Secrets of the Deep Sea

by Jacob Mikanowski

What happens when the search for battery metals reaches a world that has never seen the sun?

Noema · 2026-09-05

Your Perception of Time is, in Fact, Warped

by Mike Mariani

If time is measured in memories, what happens to a day spent staring at a screen?

Works in Progress · 2026-09-05

How P-hacking Built the World's Most Expensive Safety Regime

by Ben Southwood

How did a few statistical tricks end up writing the rules for global nuclear safety?

STAT News · 2026-09-05

Opinion: I Was a Doula Before I Was an OB-GYN. I Wish the Two Professions Understood Each Other More

by Debra Eluobaju

How can a doctor and a doula stand in the same delivery room and see two different births?

Smithsonian Magazine · 2026-09-05

Theodore Roosevelt Survived an Assassination Attempt Because a Speech Tucked Inside His Pocket Slowed the Bullet. He Insisted on Delivering His Remarks Anyway

Why would you edit the transcript of a speech you gave with a bullet in your chest?

American Scholar · 2026-09-05

Who is the Samurai, and Who is the Prisoner?

by Jessa Crispin

What makes a samurai abandon his castle, his people, and his place in history?

The Conversation · 2026-09-04

Worms Navigate Narrow Paths Faster Than Wide Ones – These Findings Could Inform Robot Design

by K. R. Prathyusha, Research Associate, BioFrontiers Institute, University of Colorado Boulder

Noahpinion · 2026-09-04

Why You Won’t Get a Flying Car

by Noah Smith

If people already close the window shades on airplanes, would they actually want a flying car?

Vox · 2026-09-04

Inside a Quest to Learn About the Ocean’s Mysterious “deep Reefs”

by Byrd Pinkerton

Scroll.in · 2026-09-04

Bimal Roy’s ‘Do Bigha Zamin’ and the Never-ending Race Against Poverty

by Nandini Ramnath

What connects a man outrunning a horse carriage in 1953 to the gig workers of today?

Comment Magazine · 2026-09-04

The Room Without a Wall

by Anastasia Korbet

When your home is missing a wall, why do you still sweep the floor?

Defector · 2026-09-04

Claire Stapleton Helped Write the Myth of Google, but Now She’s Trying to Tell the Truth

by Grace Byron

How do you lead a strike against a tech giant after spending years making it sound human?

Defector · 2026-09-04

Is It Possible to Teach My Kid How to Manage Risk?

by Drew Magary

If your job is to keep a child safe, when do you hand them a sharp knife?

Noema · 2026-09-03

Optimized Offspring

by Brigida D'Agostino

Quanta Magazine · 2026-09-03

In an Age of AI, a Physicist Seeks What Endures

by Rebecca Boyle

If a machine can answer any question, what happens to the conversations that start with not knowing?

The Conversation · 2026-09-03

How ‘monoculture’ Became a Catchall for Two Opposing Anxieties – That We No Longer Share Enough, and That We All Share Too Much

by Maria A. Rodas, Assistant Professor of Business Administration, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

How do you share a culture with millions of strangers without everything starting to look the same?

Rest of World · 2026-09-03

I Refused to Train the AI That Could Replace Me

by James Maisiri

What happens when a machine learns not just what you know, but how you decide?

Aeon · 2026-09-03

More Nothing Now

by Justin Neuman

When there is no way to win, do you still know how to play?

Asterisk · 2026-09-02

After Work, We’ll Have Each Other

If nobody has to work, how do you earn respect without relying on who you know?

The Conversation · 2026-09-02

How Students at Colorado State Helped Teach Their Community to Stop Talking Past Each Other and Manage Complex Problems

by Martin Carcasson, Director, Center for Public Deliberation, Colorado State University

Astral Codex Ten · 2026-09-02

Absurd Adventure and Amygdalectomy Advocacy

by Scott Alexander

What happens to your mind when a surgeon cuts out the physical source of fear?

Psyche · 2026-09-02

Mother Teresa Was Virtuous, but She Was Wrong About Virtue

by Michael Brownstein & Alex Madva

When does being kind to the person right in front of you stop being enough?

The Bulwark · 2026-09-02

‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day’ at 35

by Sonny Bunch

Does a movie belong to the director who keeps changing it, or the audience who remembers it?

Smithsonian Magazine · 2026-09-02

This American Commando Parachuted Behind Enemy Lines in Both the European and Pacific Theaters of World War II

What happens to a goodbye letter when the man who wrote it actually comes home?

The Bulwark · 2026-09-01

Postliberalism is Not About Economic Transformation

by Matt McManus

Scroll.in · 2026-09-01

How a Victorian Philosopher Found Common Ground Between Hindu Philosophy and Socialism

by Ajay Kamalakaran

Compact · 2026-09-01

Dwight Macdonald’s American Century

by Geoff Shullenberger

Why does the era that built the doomsday machine still feel like a golden age?

Vox · 2026-09-01

How to Deal with Other People’s Kids

by Allie Volpe

How do you say no to a child when their parents are standing right there?

Aeon · 2026-09-01

A Philosophy of Home

by Sandrine Bergès

If a city is built from homes, why does philosophy stop at the front door?

Scroll.in · 2026-08-31

How Japan’s Victory in the 1907 War Against Russia Strengthened India’s Resolve for Freedom

by Mithi Mukherjee

The Diplomat · 2026-08-31

Can a State Build a Reading Culture? Uzbekistan is Trying.

by Sojida Hamid

Can a government build a reading culture just by translating the right books?

Scroll.in · 2026-08-31

Amrita Pritam’s Two Delhis: the City She Lived in and the City She Wrote

by Kanupriya Dhingra

Where do you find a writer after the city she lived in erases her address?

Liberties · 2026-08-31

Analog Hope

by Jake Harrison

If a machine can answer every question, why is hope still made of flesh and blood?

Smithsonian Magazine · 2026-08-30

NASA-Funded Mission to Rescue a Falling Space Telescope Officially Ends in Failure

Asterisk · 2026-08-30

In Praise of Observational Evidence

Can you prove a medicine works just by studying the people who already take it?

STAT News · 2026-08-29

Opinion: I Studied Reddit Forums on Menopause — and Found What Doctors Are Missing

by Yulin Hswen

Comment Magazine · 2026-08-29

Meanings of Melancholy

by Jacob Potash

If a pill can lift deep despair, what happens to the meaning of the pain?

The Atlantic · 2026-08-29

The Jews Who Voted for Hitler

by Timothy W. Ryback

How did a decorated Jewish veteran convince himself that Adolf Hitler was his country's only hope?

Quanta Magazine · 2026-08-29

Does Computer Science Need Computers?

by Ben Brubaker

If a computer scientist never touches a physical machine, what exactly are they studying?

Scroll.in · 2026-08-29

Some Speed‑reading Apps Make Big Claims. But How Fast Can We Actually Read?

by Erik D Reichle, The Conversation

At what speed does reading a book turn into just looking at words on a page?

Noema · 2026-08-28

The Real Problem Underlying India-China Tensions

by Pallavi Aiyar

When India and China look across the border, why do they only see old wounds?

Works in Progress · 2026-08-28

A Future of Programmable Medicine

by Works in Progress

How does medicine change when a drug is just a sequence of genetic code?

Construction Physics · 2026-08-28

How the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Works

by Brian Potter

Psyche · 2026-08-28

Why You Should Talk to Your Dead Ancestors

by Mariam Vahradyan

Why keep a conversation going with someone who can never answer back?

The Guardian (Long Read) · 2026-08-27

Democracy V the Machine: the Birth of the Digital Age and the Warnings That Were Ignored

by Jill Lepore

STAT News · 2026-08-27

Opinion: Medical Aid in Dying and the Burden of Choosing to Live

by Monika Piotrowska

If a doctor can help you die, does staying alive become a choice you have to justify?

Smithsonian Magazine · 2026-08-27

A Rare Comet Made History as the Third Known Interstellar Object to Fly Through Our Solar System. Studies Are Now Revealing the Mysterious Conditions in Which It Formed

How do you read the history of an ancient star system from a passing chunk of ice?

The Atlantic · 2026-08-27

What AI Will Do to Art

by Spencer Kornhaber

If a machine can generate anything in seconds, where does the actual art happen?

Defector · 2026-08-27

Finding Friends, Legacy, and Leather Sluts at New Jersey’s Finest Holiday Inn

by Sophie Abromowitz

How do you build a lasting history in a hotel that resets the moment you leave?

Vox · 2026-08-26

This Transplant Surgery Could Save Countless Lives. Why Aren’t We Doing More of Them?

by Anusha Subramanian

If a liver can grow back, why is it so hard to give part of it away?

The Conversation · 2026-08-26

From Ancient Texts to Modern Practices, Daoism Provides a Profound Framework for Understanding the World Not as Broken but as Naturally Seeking Balance

by Michael Naparstek, Associate Teaching Professor Religious Studies, University of Tennessee

What kind of religion begins with the idea that the world doesn't need saving?

Quanta Magazine · 2026-08-25

A New Framework for How the Brain Compresses Our Noisy World

by Conor Feehly

Does the brain see the world as it is, or as the body needs it to be?

The American Prospect · 2026-08-25

The Democrats’ On-Again, Off-Again Class Politics

by Harold Meyerson

Just Security · 2026-08-25

The U.S. Government Must Preserve the Soft Power of Its Sanctions

by Anton Moiseienko

What happens to a country's sanctions when the rest of the world stops taking them seriously?

Works in Progress · 2026-08-24

The Upper Limits of Biology

by Works in Progress

After 4,000 years of breeding horses for speed, what happens when they simply can't get any faster?

Vox · 2026-08-24

The Future of Medicine is Video Games

by Dylan Scott

When does a video game become a substitute for general anesthesia?

The Atlantic · 2026-08-24

Iran Unleashed

by Robert Kagan

Compact · 2026-08-24

Big Tech’s War on Human Achievement

by Gregory Conti

If a machine can master a craft in seconds, what happens to a life's work?

Scroll.in · 2026-08-24

Cats Were Domesticated Thousands of Years Ago. Are They Finally Getting Tamer?

by Grace Carroll, The Conversation

Are cats actually getting tamer, or did people just start treating them like family?

The Conversation · 2026-08-24

Radio Telescopes Help Scientists Map Molecules in Space and Uncover Where and How Stars Form

by Olivia Harper Wilkins, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Dickinson College

How do you map the chemistry of a star that hasn't even been born yet?

Psyche · 2026-08-23

Arabic Has Four Words for Sadness. Philosophy Explains Why

by Chereen Shurafa

What gets lost when an algorithm classifies a spiritual crisis as just another negative emotion?

Quanta Magazine · 2026-08-21

Why Aging May Be a Program, Not a Breakdown

by Ingrid Wickelgren

Asterisk · 2026-08-21

What to Expect When You’re Expecting (A World of Multi-Agent Systems)

If you put twenty-seven machines in a group chat, how long until they invent bureaucracy?

Smithsonian Magazine · 2026-08-21

Why Are Some Octopuses so Smart? The Answer Might Lie in a Never-Before-Seen Mutation That Helps Them Accurately Build Proteins

Vox · 2026-08-21

The Moral Case for Being Less Online

by Shayla Love

If you stop posting about the world, do you lose your stake in the future?

The Diplomat · 2026-08-21

Kashmir’s Uneasy Calm: Silent Guns, Muted Hope

by Shanthie Mariet D’Souza

When the guns go quiet but the soldiers stay, what does peace actually look like?

Aeon · 2026-08-21

How Art Invented Humanity

by J F Martel

Why did early humans spend thousands of years painting animals before they ever painted a human face?

Vox · 2026-08-20

The Early-2000s Money Trend That’s Still Relevant Today

by Anna North

Vox · 2026-08-20

Why Scientists Are Using Cheap Picnic Coolers to Protect Some of the World’s Most Endangered Animals

by Benji Jones

If the ocean keeps getting hotter, how do you build a coral reef that actually survives?

The Conversation · 2026-08-20

Personal Bankruptcy Filings Are Soaring in 2026, Signaling Growing Economic Distress

by Jay L. Zagorsky, Associate Professor of Business, Boston University

Works in Progress · 2026-08-20

Does Daycare Damage Children's Brains?

by Phoebe Arslanagić-Little

Does sending a child to daycare actually change the person they grow up to be?

The Conversation · 2026-08-20

Students Are Anxious – and It’s No Surprise, Since We Are Teaching Them to Be That Way

by Erin Clabough, Professor of Psychology, University of Virginia

If children are naturally curious, why do so many classrooms run on stress?

Smithsonian Magazine · 2026-08-20

Yellowstone is Among the World's Best Places to See Wild Wolves. Here's the Story of the Animal Called Both 'Public Enemy' and Cultural Icon

Why is it so hard to look at a wild wolf and just see an animal?

Noema · 2026-08-19

The Tantalizing Possibility of Locating Consciousness in the Brain

by Daniel Freeman

Aeon · 2026-08-19

Worm Munch Matters

by Ella Browning

If you bury a microphone in the ground, what does healthy soil sound like?

Knowable Magazine · 2026-08-19

Artificial Intelligence Boosts Automated Biolabs

by Ben Deighton

Psyche · 2026-08-19

What Draws Well-meaning Parents to Authoritarian Parenting?

by Hope Bastine

When does preparing a child for the world turn into erasing who they are?

Quanta Magazine · 2026-08-19

What Do Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorems Truly Mean?

by Natalie Wolchover

How can something be mathematically true if no set of rules can ever prove it?

Defector · 2026-08-18

Melon’s Odyssey on the Black Market for Life-Saving Cat Medicine

by Sabrina Imbler

How do you save a dying cat when the only cure is sold on the black market?

The Diplomat · 2026-08-18

5 Years After the Fall: Why the World Still Misreads the Taliban

by Munera Yousufzada

The Independent · 2026-08-18

This School Teaches Senegal's Brightest Girls to Push Back Against Patriarchal Norms

by Monika Pronczuk

The Guardian (Long Read) · 2026-08-18

A Bungled Bomb Plot in Poland Exposed a Spy – but Whose Spy Was He?

by Shaun Walker

When a political exile is exposed as a spy, how do you know which life was real?

Noahpinion · 2026-08-18

Are You Finally Ready to Admit It's the Phones?

by Noah Smith

When did a screen in your pocket become the only way to reach another person?

Defector · 2026-08-18

‘The Cruelest Game’ Examines Tennis as Torture

by Owen Lewis

If you give your childhood to a game, who are you when you put down the racket?

Scroll.in · 2026-08-18

In a New Book, Journalist Samanth Subramanian Probes the Real Estate Business in and Around Delhi

by Samanth Subramanian

If an apartment is never actually built, who ends up making the money?

The Atlantic · 2026-08-18

Nice Guys Are Hot Again

by Sophie Gilbert

How did a fictional hockey player who actually likes women become the ultimate romantic fantasy?