While we’re busy wondering whether machines will ever become conscious, we rarely stop to ask: What happens to us?

"I have a friend who thinks vaccines cause autism," writes Nina. "What can I do?"

"I think we need a truly open-ended conversation with 8 billion strangers, and what makes that hard to do increasingly is a level of political fragmentation and extremism and partisanship born of our engagement with these new technologies."

The truly talented are those who got to where they are despite preconceived expectations.

In the 18th century, David Hume argued that we are only motivated to do good when our passions direct us to do so. Was he right?

What can you do to support your health during menopause? “If exercise were a drug, that would be the one thing that we would be giving to everybody.”

The color of the shirt you're wearing right now depends on many factors, from your eye shape to what language you speak.

Scientists have created a magnificent portrait of every connection among neurons in a fruit fly’s brain.

“What happens if you incorporate an AI? It's now a legal person, and it can make decisions by itself. So you start having legal persons in the U.S., which are not human, and in many ways are more intelligent than us.”

“Most of us aren't sure what to think about everything, but we don't really see that modeled anywhere, right? You're supposed to know for sure, and there's very little intellectual humility on social media or on TV.”

How the successful marketer used ancient philosophy to overcome modern obstacles and change his mindset.

Whether your hair is straight, wavy, curly, or kinky isn't just genetic in nature. It depends on the physics of your hair's very atoms.

How can "you" move on when the old "you" is gone?

“Part of what's happening now in the world is tension between organic animals and an inorganic digital system which is increasingly controlling and shaping the entire world.”

One of the 20th century's most famous, influential, and successful physicists is lauded the world over. But Feynman is no hero to me.

Here's the dark side of first contact.

Can creativity really change the world? Creativity Pioneers argue that it can. By using art, culture, and imagination, these innovators are tackling some of the most pressing social issues of […]

“The problem with conspiracy theories is they're not just telling you a story, they're telling you a really good story. There's a hidden cabal behind everything that's happening, there's a secret pattern that you just have to be smart enough to detect.”

Some go gently into the night. Others die less prettily in freak accidents or deadly invasions, or after a showy display.

From tribal hunts to Stonehenge and into the modern day, the peer instinct helps humans coordinate their efforts and learning.

Many mavericks look to Einstein as a unique figure, whose lone genius revolutionized the Universe. The big problem? It isn't true.

The controversial theory about magic mushrooms and human evolution gets a much-needed update.

We’re all assigned a label at some point in our lives. You might be the smart one, the creative one or the lazy one. But is that designation really an […]

Would you be upset if I called you an eggplant?

"Amid the chaos, he remembered his life being eerily calm as he knew it wasn’t if, but when they would be hacked to pieces. He just kept kicking."

“The primary way that people make friends is through institutions."

An in-depth interview with astronomer Kelsey Johnson, whose new book, Into the Unknown, explores what remains unknown about the Universe.

Plenty of parents feel guilty about wanting to skip playtime, but there's no need.

People often say, "Let go," or, "Don't take things to heart." But where's the line with this philosophy?

To maintain momentum and flow, the great novelist Ernest Hemingway didn’t burn himself out — but learned when to put his work down.