Science & Technology

Latest Articles

Science & Technology	Walking Trees, Parasitic Flowers, and Other Remarkable Plants: An Illustrated Guide A series of botanical encounters in the rainforest, excerpted from Francis Hallé’s book “Atlas of Poetic Botany.” Francis Hallé \| Sep 15
Science & Technology	On the Politics of Death Global events such as pandemics can momentarily focus attention on a fundamentally overlooked pre-existing human condition: the sheer inequality of how individuals in power decide who lives and who dies. John Troyer \| Sep 13
Science & Technology	Alien Dreams: The Surprisingly Long History of Speculation About Extraterrestrials The idea that other worlds might be home to alien beings has been part of our thought for as long as we have been looking skyward. Wade Roush \| Aug 3
Science & Technology	Around the World in 50,000 Years: The Genetics of Race To fully understand race and genetics, we have to consider where we came from and how we got here. Stanley Fields and Mark Johnston \| Jul 30
Science & Technology	Powers of Hearing: The Military Science of Sound Location During WWI the act of hearing was recast as a tactical activity — one that could determine human and even national survival. Gascia Ouzounian \| Jul 26
Science & Technology	A Century of Science Fiction That Changed How We Think About the Environment Even before the idea of climate change took hold, sci-fi began to think of the planet as something that preceded our species and could conceivably continue without us. Sherryl Vint \| Jul 20
Science & Technology	Self-Medicating Chimps, Pugilistic Shrimp, and Other Remarkable Animals: An Illustrated Guide A short catalog of wondrous beings, excerpted from Emmanuelle Pouydebat's book "Atlas of Poetic Zoology." Emmanuelle Pouydebat \| Illustrations by Julie Terrazzoni \| Jul 13
Science & Technology	What’s Behind the U.S. War on Science? An anthropologist looks to Finland to argue that solutions must go far beyond reversing Trump’s policies. Vincent Ialenti \| Jun 22
Science & Technology	Re-counting the Cognitive History of Numerals Linguistic and cognitive anthropologist Stephen Chrisomalis reckons with numbers and the mind. Philip Laughlin \| Jun 21
Science & Technology	“Funes the Memorious" and Other Cases of Extraordinary Memory In Jorge Luis Borges's story of barely 12 pages, the celebrated writer plays with the infinite in a context of vast labyrinths of memory and the consequences of having an unlimited capacity to remember. Rodrigo Quian Quiroga \| Jun 16