A Trick of the Mind
Looking for patterns in life and then infusing them with meaning, from alien intervention to federal conspiracy.
Science & Technology
Why Are People "Irrationally" Generous to Strangers?
New research finds that nice guys tend to finish first.
The Cybersecurity-Industrial Complex
The feds erect a bureaucracy to combat a questionable threat.
Natural Gas Flip-Flop
Big environmental groups were for fracking before they were against it.
An Environmentalist Joins the Reality-Based Community
A review of Mark Lynas' The God Species
Climate Change and Confirmation Bias
A new study suggests that your values, not science, determine your views about climate change.
Lukewarmers, Denialists, and Other Climate Change Skeptics
Impressions and reporting from the Sixth International Climate Change Conference
It's Hard to Make Predictions, Especially About the Future
Why dart-throwing chimps are better than the experts
Among the Biotech Conventioneers
A dispatch on the value of failed drugs, new vaccines against superbugs, and the prospect of a molecular stethoscope.
