Exploring bleeding edge experiments, oddities, new and bizarre dicoveries, and fact-checking conspiracy theories since 2008. No question is out of bounds and no topic is too strange for a deep dive.
# astrobiology
A star named V883 Ori is going through a growth spurt, and as it does, it’s showing us just how abundant the building blocks of life might be throughout the universe.
# tech
If you’re in a creative, artistic industry, relying on your looks and presence to make a living, computers couldn’t possibly come for your job, right? Actually, they can, and here’s how.
# science
The ancient inhabitants of the Channel Islands suffered an unexplained and serious decline in health some 5,000 years ago. Scientists are still not sure why.
# health
Today’s office and gig culture are glorifying workaholism and a non-stop “hustle ‘till you make it, sleep when you’re dead” attitude. It’s not just socially toxic. It’s damaging to your health and psyche.
# health
As recreational drugs show promise in medical, and possibly professional settings, research is being held back by laws crafted around vindictive politics rather than science.
# podcast
As we’ve been told for decades, the wealthy and powerful are not like the rest of us. Not only do they enjoy things we can only dream of, their very mental wiring is altered.
# space
Mars One was an impossible dream. No, literally. As in not possible and could never happen. Now the company is bankrupt and its mission plans abandoned, which is really for the best.
# tech
Threatened by the open, permissive architecture of the internet, Russia is doing a dry run at building its own. If it succeeds, the effects on the global economy and geopolitics would be far-reaching and unsettling.
# science
Wealth and power don’t just change how you live and your priorities. They also change how your mind works in disconcerting ways.
# science
Environmental groups have been ringing the alarm about plastic waste filling oceans and landfills for decades, and the general public is finally paying attention. But do we have real solutions to this problem?