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History and Society
Unlock the paradoxes of life through poetic realism.
John Templeton Foundation
Meet the world's largest landowners.
Nobody actually knows what will come of AI. But we can console ourselves with the knowledge that nobody has ever really known anything about the future.
What do the dark recesses of the early Universe and Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom have in common? More than you could have ever hoped for.
Walter Pitts rose from the streets to MIT, but couldn’t escape himself.
For linguists, the uniqueness of the Basque language represents an unsolved mystery. For its native speakers, long oppressed, it is a source of pride.
Descartes broke from the European philosophers who preceded him and devised a new way of considering humanity and the world.
Sun-like stars live for around 10 billion years, but our Universe is only 13.8 billion years old. So what's the maximum lifetime for a star?
Centuries ago, the typical British coffeehouse was more like a "school without a master" than a place to grab a quick boost of caffeine.
Neuroscientist and author Bobby Azarian explores the idea that the Universe is a self-organizing system that evolves and learns.
At the turn of the millennium, a physicist fooled the global scientific community with the greatest discovery that never existed.
7mins
Plato and Carl Sagan were wrong about the human brain, says a top neuroscientist.
The Foo Fighters are at the dead center of the map, so all the other bands are happier, sadder, angrier, or hornier.
"In witness whereof, the parties hereunto have set their hands to these presents as a deed on the day month and year hereinbefore mentioned."
Mary Toft staged an elaborate hoax, but the pain was real.
You'll be able to sleep through a war.
Who’s afraid of utopia? AI doubters have cold feet. History can warm them.
We don't know what causes Miyake events, but these great surges of energy can help us understand the past — while posing a threat to our future.
If you think you know what sex, gender, and "the right thing to do" for trans youth and adults are, be sure it agrees with actual science.
We will have a better shot at improving our lives once we come to understand, know, and love the people we will one day become.
It's a useful fiction — but it's still fiction.
Before Rome was an empire, it was a republic. And before it was a republic, it was a kingdom ruled by seven mythical kings — some better than others.
13mins
Sex, gender, and the debate over identity explained by Berkeley professor Judith Butler.
Reject your Mental Map Oversimplifications.
When Einstein gave General Relativity to the world, he included an extraneous cosmological constant. How did his 'biggest blunder' occur?
The meaning of the cryptic text has eluded scholars for centuries. Their latest efforts include computational analyses seeking new insights into the medieval enigma.
Gamma-ray bursts are so powerful they could vaporize the Earth from 200 light-years away. Recreating them in the lab is not easy.
Neuroscientists and artists alike are making the case that we could transform the world through psychedelics.
Numerous videos online show that squid undergo a dramatic color-changing effect after being stunned or killed.
Dive into a realm where time, space, and even reality itself are put into question.