Headlines

Stress Is an Ancient Superpower That Is Slowly Killing You

Stress in pre-modern times was a “biological superpower” that helped humans hunt for food and survive in harsh environments and situations. But our bodies can’t easily tell the difference between the stress of encountering a lion in the jungle and a worrying email from your

Climate Change in America: Is It Too Late to Wake Up?

From Vann R. Newkirk II, a editor & journalist who hosts the Floodlines podcast (about Hurricane Katrina), a long piece about the climate chaos that’s taking hold in the US: What Climate Change Will Do to America by Mid-Century . Over the next 30 years or so, the changes to

All the Cats, Explained

From MinuteEarth, a quick tour of all the different kinds of cats in the world, extinct, wild, and domesticated, and how they are related to each other. Some interesting facts I learned: The saber-toothed tiger was the largest cat to ever live and researchers now believe it

Skydiving the Sun

Skydiver & musician Gabriel Brown and astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy teamed up to capture these incredible photos of Brown transiting the Sun while skydiving. You can see a video of the jump and some behind the scenes calculations on Instagram . We had to find the right

The quest for exomoons

Exoplanet discoveries have reshaped astronomy. Are exomoons next? Brian Greene in conversation with David Kipping - by Aeon Video Watch on Aeon

Aeon

‘I awoke at ½ past 7’

Our cursed age of self-monitoring and optimisation didn’t start with big tech: as so often, the Victorians are to blame - by Elena Mary Read on Aeon

Aeon

Caveman economics

Marshall Sahlins and others showed that early hunter gatherer societies generally didn’t work very hard. Two or three hours a day were spent gathering food, and the rest of the time was for social engagement and family. With all the technology and innovation that has followed,

Why Overconfidence Is Our Most Dangerous Cognitive Bias

In the two-thousands, the magician-comedians Penn and Teller hosted a television series called Bullshit! In it, they took on a variety of cultural phenomena they regarded as worthy of the titular epithet, from ESP to Area 51, exorcism to creationism, feng shui to haute cuisine.