Latest

Text graphic displaying the words “The Latest” in large, bold, black serif font on a light background.
Dune features a determined protagonist in Frank Herbert's science fiction masterpiece.
These initially sympathetic characters take readers down a dark path.
A drawing of a man with a beard and a pot.
Alchemy had its golden age in the 17th century, when it counted Isaac Newton and Robert Boyle among its adherents.
John Templeton Foundation
Judith Butler in a black jacket and grey scarf.
A primer on Judith Butler’s theory of gender and performativity.
A collection of different colored minerals on a black background.
Rocks and minerals don’t simply reflect light. They play with it and interact with light as both a wave and a particle.
m87 jets black hole spitzer
Nothing can escape from a black hole. So where do Hawking radiation, relativistic jets, and X-ray emissions around black holes come from?
America defeated
Opponents of America's entry into the looming Second World War believed the U.S. would be dismembered.
Three silver boxes with designs on them.
These clocks burn powdered incense along a pre-measured paths, each representing a different amount of time.
A painting showcasing the enigmatic visage of a bearded man, invoking intrigue and perhaps evoking insight into the psychology of criminals through subtle symbolism.
Great writing can unveil the criminal psyche better than any other artistic medium.
A Greek statue of a man with a bow and arrow.
Those white, marble statues you see in museums all over the world were originally painted with bright colors.
An artist's rendering of a neutron star in space.
Ultracold gases in the lab could help scientists better understand the universe.
A man experiences Stendhal syndrome while smiling in front of a red light frame.
The strange case of cultured ultra-thief Stéphane Breitwieser — who claims “art is my drug” — has divided opinion. Is it Stendhal syndrome?
dunkin's starbucks rate by state.
The richness and variety of America’s food landscape, in a buffet of maps.
dark matter
Back in the 1930s, Fritz Zwicky postulated the existence of dark matter. No one took it seriously until Vera Rubin's work: 40 years later.
Two men sitting in front of a modern typewriter.
Probability, lacking solid theoretical foundations and burdened with paradoxes, was jokingly called the “theory of misfortune.”
A woman experiencing a near-death event with her head uplifted.
There were many similarities, but also some profound differences.
A close up of a woman's eyes in a painting depicting societal distress.
Our state of extreme social interconnectedness has rapidly accelerated the rollercoaster pace at which societal confidence may collapse.
double planet illustration
Can two planets stably share the same orbit? Conventional wisdom says no, but a look at Saturn's moons might tell a different story.
An old Mongol drawing of a man with a bow and arrow.
Mounted on horses and armed with unique, powerful bows, the archers of Genghis Khan inspired terror wherever they rode.