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History & Society
Trace how culture, power, and ideas shape societies across time.
No civilization, no matter how successful, can last forever. What does the non-detection of intelligent aliens mean for our own longevity?
Throughout history, the ability to tell increasingly believable stories has become available to more people. Kevin Ashton says that’s a blessing and a curse.
The discovery of CDG-2, a galaxy that's more than 99.9% dark matter, could reveal a new population of ultra-faint galaxies. But is it real?
No human has ever left the Solar System, and only six already-launched spacecraft will ever exit it. Will Voyager 1 remain the most distant?
Philosopher Sven Nyholm on reclaiming achievement from the machines.
In this excerpt from Wired on Wall Street, Tom Hardin (aka "Tipper X") shares how he began gathering intelligence on insider trading for the FBI.
Ambition. Descent. Wisdom.
A growing movement shows that protecting the world’s forests — and the people who have safeguarded them for centuries — is one of the most powerful, and overlooked, tools in the fight against climate change.
Skoll Foundation
The idea that it’s “too late” to reduce emissions fuels cynicism and despair, putting us on an even worse trajectory.
What’s in a number? Only a vanishingly small slice of your life, it turns out.
Science fiction romanticized Mars as a place of adventure and future settlement; science tells a very different story.
A big open question in 21st-century science is how life began here on Earth. The metabolism-first scenario just might be the best one.
The “dystopian” biotech imagined in these novels is now changing real lives for the better.
Technology, shifting rules, and human ambition push athletes beyond biology’s perceived limits.
Sixty years ago, a little-known philosopher challenged how science understands life. His perspective is finding new relevance in the age of artificial intelligence.
Speculative evolution explores the strange paths natural selection might have taken — and what that means for humans.
Some sci-fi aliens are wildly implausible. Others aren’t so far-fetched.
"Broadly speaking, it's at least plausible, this might be right."
A century ago, an American colony named after Trump's favorite president was thriving on the Isle of Pines. Then came hurricanes and geopolitical reality.
One big goal of science is to find an inhabited, Earth-like planet. But if we find an Earth-like world, will we even recognize it?