Ross Andersen

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Astronomy

In the beginning

Cosmology has been on a long, hot streak, racking up one imaginative and scientific triumph after another. Is it over?

Ross Andersen

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Cosmology

Exodus

Elon Musk argues that we must put a million people on Mars if we are to ensure that humanity has a future

Ross Andersen

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Food & Drink

Sacrament

Wine is an elixir, a miracle-worker and shapeshifter – no wonder even the most secular of us hold it sacred still

Ross Andersen

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Ethics

Hell on Earth

What happens to life sentences if our lifespan is radically extended? A philosopher talks about future punishment

Ross Andersen

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Architecture & Landscape

Embracing the void

The ancients had pyramids to tame the sky’s mystery. We have Star Axis, a masterpiece forty years in the making

Ross Andersen

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Computing & Artificial Intelligence

Omens

When we peer into the fog of the deep future what do we see – human extinction or a future among the stars?

Ross Andersen

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Deep Time

The vanishing groves

A chronicle of climates past and a portent of climates to come – the telling rings of the bristlecone pine

Ross Andersen

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Family Life

Korean Thanksgiving

‘Take a photo of the spread,’ my mother says. ‘This way you can remember what to arrange when I’m dead.’

Mary H K Choi

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Digital Culture

Future reading

Digital books stagnate in closed, dull systems, while printed books are shareable, lovely and enduring. What comes next?

Craig Mod

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Data & Information

Broken links

When no ancient chat or post is beyond the grasp of Google, what matters more: the right to forget, or to be remembered?

Alana Massey

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Cultures & Languages

Origins

Paleogenetics is helping to solve the great mystery of prehistory: how did humans spread out over the earth?

Jacob Mikanowski

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Cities

Homes for the homeless

San Francisco’s homeless are harangued and despised while conservative Utah has a radically humane approach

Susie Cagle

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Knowledge

When the truth hurts

The truth about health or personal relationships can entail pain and regret. Is it sometimes better to stay in the dark?

Jess Whittlestone

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Knowledge

Rock of ages

Archaeologists used to be obsessed with religion. Now they can’t be bothered with it. Is the field worse off?

Rose Eveleth

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Architecture & Landscape

Desert utopia

It might be pleasing to dream of arcologies, mega-cities, and space colonies – but no one can design the perfect human community

Jared Keller

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History

What lies beneath

Why do archaeological fraudsters work so hard to deceive us? Because bad science makes for good stories

Ted Scheinman

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Death

To heaven and back

Is the heaven tourism memoir spiritual kitsch for the superficial seeker, or an earnest attempt to wrestle with death?

Mya Frazier

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Childhood & Adolescence

Where’s Bobbi Fischer?

Little girls sign up to play chess in droves. So why are so few of the world’s top players women?

Hana Schank

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Biology

Earth’s aliens

Alien lifeforms might be living right under our noses, but how can we find them if we don’t know what we’re looking for?

Sarah Scoles

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Deep Time

Last hominin standing

Was human evolution inevitable, or do we owe our existence to a once-in-a-universe stroke of luck?

Dan Falk

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Digital Culture

Pornucopia

Critics say that porn degrades women, dulls sexual pleasure, and ruins authentic relationships – are they right?

Maria Konnikova

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Cultures & Languages

See through words

The metaphor designer isn’t trying to make something beautiful. She wants to change your view on things. Here’s how

Michael Erard

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Design & Fashion

Losing the thread

Older than bronze and as new as nanowires, textiles are technology — and they have remade our world time and again

Virginia Postrel

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Human Rights

When a child goes to war

Our myths are full of young heroes yet our media calls them tragic victims. What is the truth about child soldiers?

Malcolm Harris

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Demography & Migration

Against generations

Generational thinking is seductive and confirms preconceived prejudices, but it’s a bogus way to understand the world

Rebecca Onion

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Earth Science

The fire age

We can melt ice sheets and cook landscapes. When humans made fire, they made themselves and their planet too

Stephen J Pyne

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Biology

Rethinking extinction

The idea that we are edging up to a mass extinction is not just wrong – it’s a recipe for panic and paralysis

Stewart Brand

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Memoir

A conscientious objector

Jacob Bridge is a popular lieutenant in the US Marines who woke up one day with an urgent need to leave the military. Why?

Lyle Jeremy Rubin

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Astronomy

Life in the dark

In the dark corners of our galaxy, there are billions of rogue planets roaming around, starless – can they support life?

Sean Raymond

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History of Technology

Into the mystic

From Stonehenge to Silicon Valley: how technology nurtured New Age ideas in a world supposedly stripped of its magic

Benjamin Breen

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Ecology & Environmental Sciences

Anthropocene fever

The Anthropocene idea has been embraced by Earth scientists and English professors alike. But how useful is it?

Jedediah Purdy

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Memoir

Like a prayer

Even secular people need time out to meditate, reflect, and give thanks. Is prayer the answer?

Heather Havrilesky

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Food & Drink

To tip or not to tip?

Rude in Tokyo, rude not to in New York – tipping mystifies tourists, economists and anthropologists. Should we stop?

Julian Baggini

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Computing & Artificial Intelligence

Get under the hood

Our laptops are sleek and polished. Our operating systems are fluid and intuitive. Computing is easy and that’s a problem

Samuel Arbesman

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Digital Culture

Fact-checking grandma

The internet is rife with myths, scams and hoaxes. When any claim can be checked out, why does fiction still trump fact?

Lyz Lenz

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Cultures & Languages

From Aesop to doge

The animal who speaks in a human voice is a figure of the most enduring imaginative power. What do we hope to hear?

Stassa Edwards

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Engineering

A fault in our design

We tend to think that technological progress is making us more resilient, but it might be making us more vulnerable

Colin Dickey

What is something that has charmed you recently?

Ross Andersen

Why do historians bring our founders to our era to beat crap out of them? can’t they let them RIP?

Ross Andersen

What would it take to end the United States?

Ross Andersen

What is your first political memory?

Ross Andersen

Why do people who grow up in country towns always feel the need to escape?

Ross Andersen

What is your favorite bar in the world? Why?

Ross Andersen

What is your favorite bar in the world? Why?

Ross Andersen

Why do we like, say “like” so much?

Ross Andersen

Is the American higher education system fundamentally flawed? If so, how?

Ross Andersen

Can we live without government?

Ross Andersen

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Written by Ross Andersen

Cosmology has been on a long, hot streak, racking up one imaginative and scientific triumph after another. Is it over?

Elon Musk argues that we must put a million people on Mars if we are to ensure that humanity has a future

Wine is an elixir, a miracle-worker and shapeshifter – no wonder even the most secular of us hold it sacred still

What happens to life sentences if our lifespan is radically extended? A philosopher talks about future punishment

The ancients had pyramids to tame the sky’s mystery. We have Star Axis, a masterpiece forty years in the making

When we peer into the fog of the deep future what do we see – human extinction or a future among the stars?

A chronicle of climates past and a portent of climates to come – the telling rings of the bristlecone pine

Edited by Ross Andersen

‘Take a photo of the spread,’ my mother says. ‘This way you can remember what to arrange when I’m dead.’

Digital books stagnate in closed, dull systems, while printed books are shareable, lovely and enduring. What comes next?

When no ancient chat or post is beyond the grasp of Google, what matters more: the right to forget, or to be remembered?

Paleogenetics is helping to solve the great mystery of prehistory: how did humans spread out over the earth?

San Francisco’s homeless are harangued and despised while conservative Utah has a radically humane approach

The truth about health or personal relationships can entail pain and regret. Is it sometimes better to stay in the dark?

Archaeologists used to be obsessed with religion. Now they can’t be bothered with it. Is the field worse off?

It might be pleasing to dream of arcologies, mega-cities, and space colonies – but no one can design the perfect human community

Why do archaeological fraudsters work so hard to deceive us? Because bad science makes for good stories

Is the heaven tourism memoir spiritual kitsch for the superficial seeker, or an earnest attempt to wrestle with death?

Little girls sign up to play chess in droves. So why are so few of the world’s top players women?

Alien lifeforms might be living right under our noses, but how can we find them if we don’t know what we’re looking for?

Was human evolution inevitable, or do we owe our existence to a once-in-a-universe stroke of luck?

Critics say that porn degrades women, dulls sexual pleasure, and ruins authentic relationships – are they right?

The metaphor designer isn’t trying to make something beautiful. She wants to change your view on things. Here’s how

Older than bronze and as new as nanowires, textiles are technology — and they have remade our world time and again

Our myths are full of young heroes yet our media calls them tragic victims. What is the truth about child soldiers?

Generational thinking is seductive and confirms preconceived prejudices, but it’s a bogus way to understand the world

We can melt ice sheets and cook landscapes. When humans made fire, they made themselves and their planet too

The idea that we are edging up to a mass extinction is not just wrong – it’s a recipe for panic and paralysis

Jacob Bridge is a popular lieutenant in the US Marines who woke up one day with an urgent need to leave the military. Why?

In the dark corners of our galaxy, there are billions of rogue planets roaming around, starless – can they support life?

From Stonehenge to Silicon Valley: how technology nurtured New Age ideas in a world supposedly stripped of its magic

The Anthropocene idea has been embraced by Earth scientists and English professors alike. But how useful is it?

Even secular people need time out to meditate, reflect, and give thanks. Is prayer the answer?

Rude in Tokyo, rude not to in New York – tipping mystifies tourists, economists and anthropologists. Should we stop?

Our laptops are sleek and polished. Our operating systems are fluid and intuitive. Computing is easy and that’s a problem

The internet is rife with myths, scams and hoaxes. When any claim can be checked out, why does fiction still trump fact?

The animal who speaks in a human voice is a figure of the most enduring imaginative power. What do we hope to hear?

We tend to think that technological progress is making us more resilient, but it might be making us more vulnerable

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