books

“What am I missing?” is a question that journalist Mónica Guzmán thinks more people should start asking.

It took a series of ingenious experiments in the 20th century to uncover some of our biggest cognitive biases.

In theory, history is the sum of everything that ever happened; in practice, it’s a story we tell ourselves to make sense of and justify our actions in the present. 

Bite into a miracle berry and you’ll perceive intense sweetness — but only after you eat something acidic, too.

Using the Book of Mormon as a sacred but ambiguous atlas, the Latter-day Saints have been looking for the lost city of Zarahemla for decades.

After it became clear that the world wasn’t 6,000 years old, some proposed that northern peoples had emerged independently from others.

The ten greatest ideas in science form the bedrock of modern biology, chemistry, and physics. Everyone should be familiar with them.

Historically, periods of mass flourishing are underpinned by technological revolutions. Currently, we are undergoing a technological revolution unlike anything the world has ever seen.

Although saying the wrong thing could often get you killed in ancient civilizations, history shows that the ideal of free speech has deep roots.

Many first-hand accounts from the golden age of piracy were grossly embellished, meaning it’s extremely difficult to separate Blackbeard the legend from Edward Thatch the person.

From physics and alchemy to theology and eschatology, Isaac Newton’s research was rooted in a personal pursuit of the Divine.

Your brain is remarkably good at mapping out physical spaces — even if it’s an imaginary space like Hogwarts. But how does the brain do it?

We are generally taught that there is an arc of history — an inevitable path of progress that leads to modern society. Maybe it isn’t true.

The book “The Genesis Machine” outlines the promise and peril of synthetic biology, a powerful tool that will allow us to program life like a computer.

It is often assumed that AI will become so advanced that the technology will be able to do anything. In reality, there are limits.

Unlike the first Roaring Twenties, these won’t end with a Great Depression.

New ideas inevitably face opposition. A new book called “The Human Element” argues that overcoming opposition requires understanding the concepts of “Fuel” and “Friction.”

Just don’t expect the apocalypse to look like it does in the movies.

In her 2020 book, “The Alchemy of Us,” Ainissa Ramirez explores how important material inventions shaped the course of human experience.

Digital currencies are set to upend paper currencies, but it likely won’t be the decentralized utopia some hope it will be.

Society incorrectly blamed a “population bomb” for problems that had other causes. A wrong diagnosis produces ineffective solutions.

Experiencing too much pleasure and not enough pain may yield counterintuitive consequences.

Why does Seattle continue to be a place that nurtures the development of breakthrough technologies but not Minneapolis, Memphis, or Minsk?

Today, every Homo species is extinct besides humans. But one of our close evolutionary relatives still lives on in our DNA.

When we try to recreate simpler versions of natural ecosystems, we invariably make mistakes, argues author and biologist Rob Dunn.

What value does wit hold in genres defined by brute strength?

Far from acting as the conduits of a benevolent deity, these religious leaders threw the teachings of their own church out of the window.

Universal basic income can secure basic independence for citizens, something which modern states have failed to do, argues author Louise Haagh.

Using DNA from samples of extinct flowers, synthetic biologists managed to approximate long-lost floral scents.

To overcome burnout, we need to change how we think about the relationship between dignity and work, argues Jonathan Malesic.