The Retiree Who Inspired the Wright Brothers to Take Flight

The Haiku of Richard Wright

The Tortoises That Inspired Modern Robotics

Books and screens

Open Thread

Global Cooperation in a Time of Geopolitical Disruption

MIT faculty, alumni named 2026 Sloan Research Fellows

Mamdani Discovers Common Sense on Homeless Sweeps

For leftists, philanthropy is often simply an expression of plutocratic power. How then to make sense of the surprisingly radical Garland Fund?

Is a Strictly Enforced Fishing Ban Saving the Yangtze?

“Rather than being a footnote to premodern folly, the Rosicrucian affair turns out to sit at the narrative center of the modern world”

Penny, a Doberman pinscher, wins the Westminster dog show

“Most people who subscribe to scientific materialism take it to be so obviously correct that it could not be denied by any rational person who truly understood it”

This shapeshifting polymer was inspired by octopus skin

Wayne Thiebaud’s Sweet Take on American Art

Take <i>Nature</i>’s poll: do you have a side hustle alongside your PhD studies?

How Robert Crumb Inspired the Underground Comix Movement

“Revolution” initially signaled destruction. Why did the word take on a more optimistic tenor?

“Being a literary sex symbol can really take it out of you, making it tougher to maintain your lofty dignity as a quoter of Kafka”

Young People's Mental Health Is Improving. Tech Alarmists Take Note.

Wealth Taxes Are Proven Failures. Will California Take Note?

Alienated by Trump, Europeans Finally Take Responsibility for Defense