Latest

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life beyond earth
Back in 1990, we hadn't discovered a single planet outside of our Solar System. Here are 10 facts that would've surprised every astronomer.
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Striking differences in the composition of the gut microbiome suggest that fermented food could help those suffering from anorexia.
a woman's face is shown with a colorful background.
Forgetting and misremembering are the building blocks of creativity and imagination.
a painting of a human skull on a table.
Most people are not experiencing a "good" death.
Neuroscience suggests that it's way better to give than to receive — and high performing people agree.
composite JWST ALMA HST Fomalhaut
The nearby, bright star Fomalhaut had the first optically imaged planetary candidate. Using JWST's eyes, astronomers found so much more.
The "island rule" hypothesizes that species shrink or supersize to fill insular niches not available to them on the mainland.
a close up of a carving on a wall.
Glimpse into the ancient Maya empire through the writing of its own inhabitants.
a robot hand holding a magnifying glass.
A panel of healthcare professionals much preferred responses that came from the chatbot in a recent study.
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These composers channeled the horror of the Holocaust and Hiroshima while honoring those who lived through it.
four exoplanets super-earth mini-neptune
They're the most common type of exoplanet known today, and many astronomers have called them "super-habitable." None of that is true.
a painting of a couple of zebras on a blue background.
The discovery has enormous implications for the development of novel anti-anxiety medications.
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As a physician, John Pringle helped reinvent hygiene; as a husband, he destroyed a woman’s life with his abuse.
a close up of a statue
As the stream of AI-generated art turns into a deluge, NFTs could become a cornerstone of the Virtual Renaissance.
perseverance ingenuity mars
Mars, the red planet, was a world we knew almost nothing about until our first spacecraft visited it. In just ~50 years, how far we've come!
a multicolored image of a cell phone.
Rapamycin is potentially the most powerful anti-aging drug ever discovered. However, due to its unlucky history, few know of it.
a drawing of an astronaut on the moon.
In the spirit of the 1969 moon landing, we now have a golden opportunity to pursue “nondisruptive” creative solutions.
a swan flaps its wings in the water.
Billy was a local celebrity in the early 1900s. And he might have been a murderer.
Thinking about the problem of meaning is unsettling because it introduces us to a list of solutions that all feel a bit insane.
John Templeton Foundation