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History and Society
Unless you have a critical mass of heavy elements when your star first forms, planets, including rocky ones, are practically impossible.
Nietzsche both wished he was as stupid as a cow so he wouldn’t have to contemplate existence, and pitied cows for being so stupid that they couldn’t contemplate existence.
The 557-million-year-old specimen challenges the theory that animal body plans were laid out in the Cambrian explosion.
Human beings are descendants of these early tetrapods – at least those who made a new life on land.
An interactive “globe of notability” shows the curious correspondences and the strange landscape of global fame.
It is wrong to think that these three statements contradict each other. We need to see that they are all true to see that a better world is possible.
Horses pranced around the western hemisphere until they went extinct in the late Holocene. They were reintroduced by European colonists — though where, when, and how has remained unclear.
There's an extremely good chance that there is, or at least was, life on Mars. But is it native to Mars, or did it originate from Earth?
Can a shared language promote peace? Some people think so.
Heart muscle is shaped like a spiral, a mystery that has eluded scientists since 1669. New research has recreated the structure.
While becoming a monk is an evolutionary dead end for the individual, celibacy reaps benefits for the group as a whole.
Uploading your mind is not a pathway to immortality. Instead, it will create a possibly hostile digital doppelgänger.
Rare and costly paints have shaped art history in unforeseen ways. Mummy brown caused one artist to bury his paint.
A new technique for analyzing networks can tell who wields soft power.
Moral panics about the content of children's cartoons and other forms of entertainment have a long history.
For decades people have arranged to freeze their bodies after death, dreaming of resurrection by advanced future medicine. Many met a fate far grislier than death.
We only detected our very first gravitational wave in 2015. Over the next two decades, we'll have thousands more.
In a nod to its addictive qualities, it was first dubbed “Some More.”
Long before Christopher and Magellan, ancient explorers voyaged into the unknown and brought home extraordinary tales.
Explore the key highlights from the UN’s latest release of its world population estimates.
The zebras were originally part of a newspaper tycoon's private zoo. Now they roam the San Simeon grasslands, growing in numbers.
Just as there are many types of believers, there's not only one type of atheist.
John Templeton Foundation
Lasers are all around you. This ubiquitous technology came from our understanding of quantum physics.
A new study shows that political partisans are more likely to remember things that didn't happen — as long as it fits their narrative.
A new bridge joins a divided Croatia, but it cuts Bosnia out of Europe — literally and figuratively. A bridge meant to unite also divides.
A second Enlightenment would have a far bigger task: Saving civilization itself.
It’s estimated that one-in-three women and one-in-five men have an episode of major depression by the age of 65.
Using data collected from ancient civilizations across the world, researchers identified the most significant factors in human development. War came out on top.