Philosophy

Quantum dialectics

When quantum mechanics posed a threat to the Marxist doctrine of materialism, communist physicists sought to reconcile the two

Jim Baggott

Kinship

Science must become attuned to the subtle conversations that pervade all life, from the primordial to the present

David Waltner-Toews

The missing conversation

To the detriment of the public, scientists and historians don’t engage with one another. They must begin a new dialogue

Lorraine Daston & Peter Harrison

Machina mundi

How medieval thinkers foreshadowed modern physics in investigating the character of machines, devices and forces

Henrik Lagerlund & Sylvain Roudaut

Mind-bending new quantum experiments are blurring past, present and future

10 minutes

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

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

Why simplicity works

Does the existence of a multiverse hold the key for why nature’s laws seem so simple?

Johnjoe McFadden

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

Building ‘bigger and better’ has pushed cosmology forward. Can it take it any further?

7 minutes

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

How much can science really tell us about the future of climate change?

24 minutes

Against ‘beauty’ in science – how striving for elegance stifles progress

9 minutes

‘Moving paintings’ evoke a quantum particle collision at the Large Hadron Collider

4 minutes