In general relativity, matter and energy curve spacetime, which we experience as gravity. Why can't there be an "antigravity" force?

Revisiting the year’s noteworthy nonfiction.

Santa's done really well this year.

We think of physical reality as what objectively exists, independent of any observer. But relativity and quantum physics say otherwise.

While ice itself is slick, slippery, and difficult to navigate across under most circumstances, skaters easily glide across the ice.

Neuroscience isn’t dissolving philosophy’s hardest problems — it’s forcing us to rethink where they live.

Bryan Washington, author of “Palaver,” reflects on how moving to Japan and learning a new language shaped his writing.

"Being connected to another person makes us feel safer and keeps our bodies at a kind of physiologic equilibrium that promotes health."

Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.

By tracking brain activity as primates move freely in the wild, neuroethology could reshape what we think we know about our own minds.

“The problem with cognitive scripts is when we use them to make more important decisions in our lives, we let our choices be driven by those stories that we have internalized that tell us how we're supposed to behave in a certain situation.”

Big Think and the John Templeton Foundation gathered scientists, artists, and storytellers in Los Angeles to explore the power of awe.

To win over any audience you need to master “cut-through” — former TV and film actor Dominic Colenso wants to give you the secret sauce.

David S. Goyer explains how paying attention to mystery, and not brushing it aside, became the foundation for the way he builds stories, characters, and worlds.

In post-apocalyptic fiction, imagined futures turn today’s political and cultural tensions into geography.

Rituals serve psychological functions that go far beyond mere habit or tradition.

There’s bad failure — the kind we ignore or hide — and good failure, which becomes data for future progress. Three experts discuss how to tell the difference.

As we crank up our search for more powerful AI, maybe we should slow down and reimagine the shape and language of intelligence itself.

Tech legend Bob Taylor — a pioneer of the computing revolution — figured out the genius of framing two types of disagreement.

Researcher and Google CTO Blaise Agüera y Arcas joins us to discuss his new book, "What Is Intelligence?"

Pleasure is never bad — but its source can be.

Our brains weren’t built for the amount of info we deal with now. That’s why scientists have made the case for a “second brain” — a place to dump ideas so you can actually see how they connect later.

Ninety million years after our lineages split, humans are beginning to listen to whales in a new way. Marine biologist David Gruber shares the work that has become his life’s pursuit: learning how to hear the planet’s largest mammals.

Conversations about an imminent "AI bubble" tend to miss the big picture.

In this excerpt from "Strange Stability," Benjamin Wilson explores how the concept of "deterrence" went from explaining criminal behavior to becoming a nuclear strategy.

What a 1950s experiment reveals about conformity in the age of the internet.

“Why would adding shame and blame help me improve my behavior?”

“I've started to think about three puzzles we need to solve for as we bring these technologies into our organizations.”

Kuang discusses the rituals, routines, and words of advice that have helped her write six best-selling novels in one decade.

Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.