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History & Society
Trace how culture, power, and ideas shape societies across time.
Magnificent time-tested buildings are filled with lessons in resilience and stability — and the benefits for investment strategy can be huge.
The most massive early galaxies grew up faster, and have more stars, than astronomers expected, according to JWST. What does it all mean?
While we’re busy wondering whether machines will ever become conscious, we rarely stop to ask: What happens to us?
Astronomer Adam Frank asks: With so many extraordinary claims, why can't anybody produce the proof?
The truly talented are those who got to where they are despite preconceived expectations.
When we see pictures from Hubble or JWST, they show the Universe in a series of brilliant colors. But what do those colors really tell us?
In the 18th century, David Hume argued that we are only motivated to do good when our passions direct us to do so. Was he right?
A member of a species that kills trees, this mushroom is not the first to be called the Humongous Fungus — and perhaps not the last.
"The evolution of digital media makes stricter regulation of online behavior not only feasible but inevitable," writes media ecologist Andrey Mir.
The cat-and-mouse game between China and the world’s semiconductor companies is already having enormous consequences.
The color of the shirt you're wearing right now depends on many factors, from your eye shape to what language you speak.
In 1980, Willy Brandt drew a line across the map that still influences how we think about the world.
Philosopher Peter Singer argues it's time to examine a morally dubious practice.
Many beloved fantasy adventures take place in worlds that bear a striking resemblance to our own.
Here's the dark side of first contact.
Burns’ latest documentary dives into the long-romanticized life and work of the Italian polymath.
Mars and Earth were sister planets in many ways, with early similar conditions. Why did Mars die? The leading explanation isn't universal.
In the year 1181, a "guest star" was recorded in the constellation of Cassiopeia. Its modern supernova remnant is weirder than we imagined.
Reading this article would be such a millennial thing to do.
Some go gently into the night. Others die less prettily in freak accidents or deadly invasions, or after a showy display.