A hack is any means of subverting a system’s rules in unintended ways. The tax code isn’t computer code, but a series of complex formulas. It has vulnerabilities; we call them …
On a scorching July afternoon in 1878, at the dawn of the Gilded Age, the moon’s shadow descended on the American West, darkening skies from Montana Territory to Texas. This rare …
The egg is a paradox—both alive and not alive—and a symbol as old as culture itself. In this wide-ranging and delightful journey through its natural and cultural history, Lizzie …
From facial recognition—capable of checking people into flights or identifying undocumented residents—to automated decision systems that inform who gets loans and who receives …
Koalas regularly appeared in Australian biologist Danielle Clode’s backyard but it was only when a bushfire threatened that she truly paid them attention. She soon realised how …
Chatbots are sure to have a significant impact on the way we read, write and think. For better or worse, they are being used to find information, influence public opinion, diagnose …
Books about the origins of humanity dominate best-seller lists, while national newspapers present breathless accounts of new archaeological findings and speculate about what those …
In her career as a science reporter, Nell Greenfieldboyce has reported from inside a space shuttle, the bottom of a coal mine and the control room of a particle collider; she’s …
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to travel the universe? How would Saturn’s rings look from a spaceship sailing just above them? If you were falling into a black hole, …
Acclaimed novelist Lydia Millet's first work of non-fiction, We Loved It All, is a genre-defying tour de force that makes an impassioned argument for people to see their emotional …
