Latest

Text graphic displaying the words “The Latest” in large, bold, black serif font on a light background.
Two identical, intricate, circular geometric patterns with symmetrical, multicolored lines and shapes are displayed side by side on a white background—each subtly reflecting the argument against theory of everything’s promise of perfect symmetry.
The Holy Grail of physics is a Theory of Everything: where a single equation describes the whole Universe. But maybe there simply isn't one?
A black-and-white portrait of JoJo Simmons is centered between an image of a film camera on the left and a close-up of a hand adjusting audio mixing controls on the right.
Reality TV star, music producer, and serial entrepreneur JoJo Simmons on the power of listening and the massive benefits of switching off.
Close-up of a classical painting showing a woman in a white headscarf looking upward with her lips pressed together; background is dark.
6mins
Free speech can amplify hatred, but it also protects the fight against it. Founder of The Future of Free Speech Jacob Mchangama explains.
Side-by-side comparison of the Pismis 24 nebula as seen by Hubble (top left) and JWST (bottom right), with an overlay highlighting image differences.
JWST isn't the first telescope to peer into this factory of star-birth some 5500 light-years away, but its views are the most educational.
A bright, circular blue and white object is centered against a black background, with a smaller red object to the lower left.
Going back to 1990, we hadn't even found one planet outside of our Solar System. As we close in on 6000, we now see many of them directly.
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1hr 37mins
“A lot of the trends in the economy, in family life have just been much harder for working class men.”
Abstract 3D geometric surface with intersecting translucent orange and brown planes, inspired by the amplituhedron theory of everything, set against a blurred orange background with white network lines.
Since even before Einstein, physicists have sought a theory of everything to explain the Universe. Can positive geometry lead us there?
a diagram of the ocean floor.
About six million years ago, the Mediterranean was sealed off from the Atlantic, and over centuries it ran dry. One megaflood reversed that.
A collage features people using phones, a vintage courtroom scene, and a close-up of mechanical watch parts under tweezers, exploring ancestral bonds, with the title "THE NIGHTCRAWLER" at the top.
Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.
An older man with long white hair and a suit looks at the camera, standing in front of a blurred background with bookshelves.
11mins
"We're stuck at type zero. But what would it take to move between universes? What would it take to enter a black hole? What would it take to break the light barrier?"
Compton gamma-ray observatory deployment
Across all wavelengths of light, the Sun is brighter than the Moon. Until we went to the highest energies and saw a gamma-ray surprise.
A person walks barefoot on a slackline stretched high above the ocean, with one arm raised for balance and cliffs visible at each end.
5mins
“If you ask a computer, it will say, most of the time you want to either be raising or folding, right? You want to take an aggressive action or quit. I think this is a great metaphor for lots of things in real life, too.”
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7mins
A neuroscientist, a psychologist, and a psychotherapist discuss how emotions are stories built from old experiences.
Unlikely Collaborators
An artist's rendering of the nasa jupiter spacecraft.
The Juno spacecraft, orbiting and imaging Jupiter since 2016, is still succeeding. Without a further extension, the mission now faces death.
A world map comparing landmass outlines of the Equal Earth projection in pink and Mercator projection in green, with grid lines overlaid.
The African Union argues that the Mercator projection distorts the continent, both in size and global attention.
An open book, symbolizing dangerous books, burns with flames rising from its pages against a black background, its fiery reflection shimmering on a glossy surface.
In "That Book Is Dangerous," author Adam Szetela examines the rise of the “Sensitivity Era” in publishing and how outrage campaigns try to control what books authors can write and readers can read.
Book cover of "The Intelligence Explosion: When AI Beats Humans at Everything" by James Barrat, featuring a robot hand holding a globe, with the text "an excerpt from" reflecting the rise of AI.
The predictions of evolutionary theorists and current advances in “multimodal AI” offer strong clues to the future of employment.
An artist's impression of a cluster of stars.
With several seemingly incompatible observations, cosmology faces many puzzles. Could early, supermassive stars be the unified solution?
The image shows the book cover for "The Contemplative Leader" by Patrick Boland, with his name prominently displayed next to the text “an excerpt from” on a split pale blue and beige background.
A contemplative approach to leading others can help us accept the tension of not always knowing how things will play out.