Both nations made missteps, but China still has a chance to make up lost ground.

They’re in our brains, hearts, and blood — but what are they doing to us?

Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.

Listen, set boundaries, and point them where to go.

Psychotherapist Israa Nasir explains how a “value-aligned life” can help us crush our goals — without being crushed by the need to accomplish more.

It’s the ultimate setup for a Thanksgiving Day disaster. The physics of water and its solid, liquid, and gas phases compels us not to do it.

We need a “theory that explains the evolution of evolution,” argues theoretical physicist Sara Imari Walker.

On November 25, U.N. members will meet in South Korea to cap off a series of meetings aiming to reduce global plastic pollution.

Magnificent time-tested buildings are filled with lessons in resilience and stability — and the benefits for investment strategy can be huge.

Storytelling skills are not just for entertainment — practical exercises used by the cream of Hollywood can transform your work-life.

The most massive early galaxies grew up faster, and have more stars, than astronomers expected, according to JWST. What does it all mean?

While we’re busy wondering whether machines will ever become conscious, we rarely stop to ask: What happens to us?

If you have any sort of power for any reasonable length of time, you will be changed by it — awareness of the effects is crucial.

There are a few small cosmic details that, if things were just a little different, wouldn’t have allowed our existence to be possible.

Off-the-shelf consumer technology is helping people pursue their interests — and advancing science at the same time.

AI software is rapidly accelerating chip design, potentially leveling up the speed of innovation across the economy.

Astronomer Adam Frank asks: With so many extraordinary claims, why can’t anybody produce the proof?

“I have a friend who thinks vaccines cause autism,” writes Nina. “What can I do?”

“I think we need a truly open-ended conversation with 8 billion strangers, and what makes that hard to do increasingly is a level of political fragmentation and extremism and partisanship born of our engagement with these new technologies.”

The truly talented are those who got to where they are despite preconceived expectations.

When we see pictures from Hubble or JWST, they show the Universe in a series of brilliant colors. But what do those colors really tell us?

In the 18th century, David Hume argued that we are only motivated to do good when our passions direct us to do so. Was he right?

Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.

The last naked-eye Milky Way supernova happened way back in 1604. With today’s detectors, the next one could solve the dark matter mystery.

A member of a species that kills trees, this mushroom is not the first to be called the Humongous Fungus — and perhaps not the last.

What can you do to support your health during menopause? “If exercise were a drug, that would be the one thing that we would be giving to everybody.”

Since 1930, type Ia supernovae have been thought to arise from white dwarfs exceeding the Chandrasekhar mass limit. Here’s why that’s wrong.

“The evolution of digital media makes stricter regulation of online behavior not only feasible but inevitable,” writes media ecologist Andrey Mir.

Startup success can often hinge on a key lesson derived from behavioral science … and Jerry Seinfeld’s “Night Guy vs. Morning Guy” routine.

In partisan political times, recognizing the scientific truth is more important than ever. Scientists must be vocal and clear about reality.