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?
0:00 / 25:52 · Narrator Sulafat
Daily edition
2026-08-21
Today's Crosscut
Cellular Breakdown
While mammals might age on a strict biological schedule rather than through random wear and tear, octopuses rely on a rare genetic trick to keep their brain cells intact.
Why Aging May Be a Program, Not a Breakdown × Why Are Some Octopuses so Smart? The Answer Might Lie in a Never-Before-Seen Mutation That Helps Them Accurately Build Proteins
0:00 / 19:45 · Narrator Sulafat/Charon/Vindemiatrix
Future-gazing →
Behind the news →
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?
0:00 / 8:27 · Narrator Vindemiatrix
For the curious →
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?
0:00 / 30:20 · Narrator Charon
Small delights →
How Do You Get Over the Greatest Sports Story of All Time?
by Dave McKenna
What does a 75-year sports curse sound like the moment it finally breaks?
0:00 / 11:26 · Narrator Charon
Smart escape →
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?
0:00 / 11:48 · Narrator Gacrux