Six Degrees of Separation at Burning Man - Issue 74: Networks - Nautilus
Today the alkaline desert is quiet. The roar of techno music and flamethrowers has been replaced with the soft clink of rakes and…
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How the ‘Octochamps’ Broke the National Spelling Bee
As the quality of the top contestants has ramped up dramatically in recent years, the national competition has struggled to keep up.
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The Ancient Rites That Gave Birth to Religion - Issue 72: Quandary - Nautilus
The invention of religion is a big bang in human history. Gods and spirits helped explain the unexplainable, and religious belief…
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Men Have No Friends and Women Bear the Burden
Women are increasingly playing the role of best friend, lover, and on-call therapist to their male partners.
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Jeopardy Wasn’t Designed for a Contestant Like James Holzhauer
'James’s performance, I’m sure, is causing grief for an accountant somewhere.'
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The Humanities: The Next Frontier for Korea's Chaebol | Korea Exposé
South Korea's big family-controlled conglomerates have identified the humanities as an antidote to their paralysis of innovation.
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Why ‘Bless Your Heart’ Is the Most Savage Insult in the Country
Bless your heart is not really a compliment. It sounds sweet as pie, and sometimes is said affectionately about pitiable situations, but it’s often acid-tongued...
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The Well-Meaning Bad Ideas Spoiling a Generation - Issue 70: Variables - Nautilus
In 2011, a friend of mine in college asked me if I’d read The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom, by Jonathan…
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How translation obscured the music and wordplay of the Bible – Robert Alter | Aeon Ideas
No translation of the Bible has tried to maintain both the meaning and the melody of the Hebrew scriptures – until now
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Why Does Every Tech Ad Use the Same Song? Because of This Man.
You're already listening to music by Steven Gutheinz, you just don't know it.
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Echos - Issue 68: Context - Nautilus
Before Corrine’s husband abandoned her in Berlin, he liked to say that her name reminded him of the word “corrupt.” But ending…
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How We’ll Forget John Lennon - Issue 68: Context - Nautilus
A few years ago a student walked into the office of Cesar A. Hidalgo, director of the Collective Learning group at the MIT Media Lab.…
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An Rx for Doctors - Issue 66: Clockwork - Nautilus
Every physician remembers their first bad case. Mine went like this. One morning, a man came into our emergency department with back…
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How Millennial Hipsters Revitalized — and Likely Destroyed — PBR
Pabst Blue Ribbon may be on its last cans. To many, the news may be like seeing a death notice and swearing that person died...
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The Oral History of the Vodka Red Bull
It’s always the guy with the hat on backward. It’s 10:30 p.m. on a Friday, he’s scanning the bar, looking for women, sometimes chewing on...
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How The X-Files invented modern television
Twenty-five years after its debut, The X-Files is that rare show that seems to exist both in the time it aired and in the present.
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Why Doesn’t Ancient Fiction Talk About Feelings? - Issue 65: In Plain Sight - Nautilus
Reading medieval literature, it’s hard not to be impressed with how much the characters get done—as when we read about King Harold…
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Advice from Our Food Critic: If I Have One Day in New York, Where Should I Eat?
The best course of action is to embark on a snacking tour that keeps you in Manhattan, mostly below Fourteenth Street, capped off by a light-ish dinner.
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Bracing for the Vanilla Boom
Some of Madagascar’s farmers, made wealthy by this year’s vanilla crop, will spend their cash in crazy “hot money” sprees. But their profligate spending may not be as illogical as it first appears.
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This Man Says the Mind Has No Depths - Issue 62: Systems - Nautilus
A whole lot of books on the brain are published these days and you can read yourself into a coma trying to make sense of their various…
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Is This Man the Elon Musk of E-Waste? - Issue 62: Systems - Nautilus
Eric Lundgren, the 33-year-old, fedora-wearing CEO of a major electronic waste recycling plant in Los Angeles, could be called both…
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What a Russian Smile Means
When I approach Sofiya Campbell, she regards me and my exuberant smile carefully. It’s only after we shake hands formally that,…
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The Wisdom of Running a 2,189-Mile Marathon
The limits of looking to ultramarathoners for lessons on perseverance
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Is the Chinese Language a Superstition Machine? - Issue 59: Connections - Nautilus
Every year, more than a billion people around the world celebrate Chinese New Year and engage in a subtle linguistic dance with luck.…
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The Thing That Made The Office Great Is the Same Thing That Killed It
Its TV-as-catharsis approach to the monotony of office work was groundbreaking, but the show's premise wasn't built to last more than a few seasons.
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The Classic Dinner and a Movie Date Costs Parents Too Much
Marketing professionals really want me to go on movie dates. The pressure is always there and worse during Oscar season when marketing professional are allowed to insinuate that going on movie dates would help me better myself in some way. And, look, they might. Date nights are wonderful. Friends say so. Scientists say so. Therapists... View Article
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Breaking Bad became one of the best TV shows ever by borrowing a trick from Shakespeare
The show balanced improvisation and careful planning thanks to its overarching structure.
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The Emotional Legacy of The Breakfast Club
John Hughes’s coming-of-age classic feels dated in retrospect, but the film paved the way for more character-focused teen stories.
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The Stick Is an Unsung Hero of Human Evolution - Issue 56: Perspective - Nautilus
In April 1997, at the snooker world championship held at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, Ronnie O’Sullivan stepped up to the…
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Best Song Ever: "Spin the Bottle" by Juliana Hatfield
"It's like, kiss this guy you don't know and will probably never see again!"
