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History & Society
Trace how culture, power, and ideas shape societies across time.
"Groupthink" gets a bad rap. In reality, we need groups to focus our thinking and to build on the ideas of others.
John Templeton Foundation
We commonly stereotype psychopaths as criminals, but there are probably more in upper management.
Memory, responsibility, and mental maturity have long been difficult to describe objectively, but neuroscientists are starting to detect patterns. Coming soon to a courtroom near you?
In a time when we dislike and distrust our politicians, why can't we get more popular leaders like Kim Jong Un and Bashar al-Assad?
Walking is rarer in the U.S. compared to similar nations. It is also deadlier: Nearly 7,500 pedestrians were killed in 2021.
If our Universe were born a little differently, there wouldn't have been any planets, stars, galaxies, or chemically interesting reactions.
Germans are masters of building cars, cooking brats — and sitting while peeing.
"Superhabitable" planets might be real, but Earth is probably as good as it gets.
Some scientists think we should allow our bodies to more harmlessly live with pathogens until they’re cleared from our systems.
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Does humanity have a moral imperative to seed life on lifeless worlds? And should we avoid colonizing a planet if life already exists there?
Within a month of that initial conversation, Peter Singer became a vegetarian.
The Shirky Principle states that "institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution."
Soviet censorship was thorough yet fallible.
5mins
Geniuses and prodigies are captivating. But generalists rule the world.
John Templeton Foundation
George Orwell got it right: "Never use a long word where a short one will do."
The cycles of life all rely on the dynamism of the Earth's crust.
But make sure you bring the fossegrim the proper offering—or else.
Cyberattacks are growing in number and sophistication.
The classic picture of Jupiter's great rocky core might be entirely wrong.