Philosophy
video
Gender
When aggression is viewed as brilliance, it hurts women in science, and science itself
5 minutes
essay
Philosophy of science
Why not scientism?
Science is not the only form of knowledge but it is the best, being the most successful epistemic enterprise in history
Moti Mizrahi
essay
History of science
Machina mundi
How medieval thinkers foreshadowed modern physics in investigating the character of machines, devices and forces
Henrik Lagerlund & Sylvain Roudaut
video
Thinkers and theories
Bernard Williams on Descartes’s audacious endeavour to prove knowledge is possible
43 minutes
essay
Knowledge
A sliver of reality
Science and mathematics may never fully capture the physical universe. Are there hard limits to human intelligence?
David H Wolpert
essay
Thinkers and theories
The lady vanishes
The history of ideas still struggles to remember the names of notable women philosophers. Mary Hesse is a salient example
Ann-Sophie Barwich
essay
Philosophy of science
What is a law of nature?
Laws of nature are impossible to break, and nearly as difficult to define. Just what kind of necessity do they possess?
Marc Lange
video
Logic and probability
The unresolved probability paradox that goes to the heart of scientific objectivity
8 minutes
video
Quantum theory
Mind-bending new quantum experiments are blurring past, present and future
10 minutes
essay
History of science
Fringe theories stack
Believe in the Loch Ness monster and you’re more likely to believe the Apollo missions were fake. How do weird beliefs work?
Michael D Gordin
essay
History of science
Calculate but don’t shut up
The cliché has it that the Copenhagen interpretation demands adherence without deep enquiry. That does physics a disservice
Jim Baggott
essay
Philosophy of science
The beautiful experiment
Science has become extraordinarily technocratic and complex. Is the simple and decisive experiment still a worthy ideal?
Milena Ivanova
essay
Future of technology
Learn from machine learning
The world is a black box full of extreme specificity: it might be predictable but that doesn’t mean it is understandable
David Weinberger
essay
Physics
Why simplicity works
Does the existence of a multiverse hold the key for why nature’s laws seem so simple?
Johnjoe McFadden
essay
Genetics
An idea with bite
The ‘selfish gene’ persists for the reason all good scientific metaphors do: it remains a sharp tool for clear thinking
J Arvid Ågren
video
Cosmology
Building ‘bigger and better’ has pushed cosmology forward. Can it take it any further?
7 minutes
essay
Cosmology
A non-Standard model
Most cosmologists say dark matter must exist. So far, it’s nowhere to be found. A widely scorned rival theory explains why
David Merritt
video
Earth science and climate
How much can science really tell us about the future of climate change?
24 minutes
video
Mathematics
Against ‘beauty’ in science – how striving for elegance stifles progress
9 minutes
video
Quantum theory
‘Moving paintings’ evoke a quantum particle collision at the Large Hadron Collider
4 minutes
essay
Philosophy of science
Keep science irrational
Is hard data the only path to scientific truth? That’s an absurd, illogical and profoundly useful fiction
Michael Strevens
essay
Biology
Life with purpose
Biologists balk at any talk of ‘goals’ or ‘intentions’ – but a bold new research agenda has put agency back on the table
Philip Ball
video
Cosmology
A cyclical, forgetful Universe – Roger Penrose details an astonishing origin hypothesis
17 minutes
essay
Philosophy of science
Cognition all the way down
Biology’s next great horizon is to understand cells, tissues and organisms as agents with agendas (even if unthinking ones)
Michael Levin & Daniel C Dennett