Search
History and Society
The fear of unleashing forces beyond control has haunted science for centuries.
The red planet, Mars, may once have been teeming with life, just as Earth is today. Finding "organics" on Mars, however, doesn't mean life.
In revolutionary Russia, a group of forward-thinking philosophers offered an alternative to both futurism and communism.
In “On Liberalism," Cass Sunstein argues that liberalism can only endure if we reclaim its core commitments and revive its spirit of freedom and hope for the future.
It's the origin of our entire observable Universe, but it's still not the very beginning of everything.
Here are three ways to do it better.
A dialogue with Angus Fletcher — author of the bestseller "Primal Intelligence" — exploring the unique engines of human progress.
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.
About six million years ago, the Mediterranean was sealed off from the Atlantic, and over centuries it ran dry. One megaflood reversed that.
Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.
The African Union argues that the Mercator projection distorts the continent, both in size and global attention.
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.
A contemplative approach to leading others can help us accept the tension of not always knowing how things will play out.
The Universe isn't just expanding; the expansion is accelerating. If different methods yield incompatible results, is dark energy evolving?
Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.
When you don't have enough clues to bring your detective story to a close, you should expect that your educated guesses will all be wrong.
10 years ago, LIGO saw its first gravitational wave. After 218 detections, our view of black holes has changed forever. Can this era endure?
The latest "Superman" film sets Metropolis in the First State.
You are held, shaped, and sustained by a thousand invisible hands.
Throughout history, "free energy" has been a scammer's game, such as perpetual motion. But with zero-point energy, is it actually possible?
In “The Secret History of Denisovans,” Silvana Condemi and François Savatier trace the story of our mysterious hominin ancestor.
Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.
There could be variables beyond the ones we've identified and know how to measure. But they can't get rid of quantum weirdness.
Sikh American scholar and historian Simran Jeet Singh on helping kids imagine — and create — a more empathetic world.
John Templeton Foundation
A conversation with neuroscientist Erik Hoel about the future of consciousness research.
Science helps us imagine the vastness of space and time — and our small but meaningful place within it.
Philosophers once prophesied that evolution would lead to minds far greater — and stranger — than our own.
In the Embers series, historian M.G. Sheftall shares the stories of Hiroshima and Nagasaki’s last survivors and reveals why their testimony must endure.