Browse Sections
The Sun Interview
Hidden Worlds
Merlin Sheldrake On The Unseen Life Around Us
Fungi are decentralized. They’re able to coordinate their behavior without anything resembling a brain. They can connect perception and action without having a special place to do so. The coordination somehow takes place everywhere at once, and also nowhere in particular.
April 2021
This Mortal Coil
Sheldon Solomon On How Fear Of Death Affects Our Lives
I don’t think it’s an overstatement to say that almost everybody on earth is currently more aware than usual that they’re going to die. . . . People are becoming more racist, xenophobic, and willing to engage in hate crimes than they were in the recent past, for example. But being reminded that we’re going to die can also bring out the best in us, making us more altruistic — at least, toward people we consider to be part of our group.
March 2021
Unstacking The Deck
Lara Bazelon On The Deep-Rooted Flaws Of Our Justice System
By conservative estimates, there are currently enough wrongfully convicted people in prison in the United States to fill a football stadium.
February 2021
Parting The Clouds
Charles Raison On New Treatments For Depression
All the data so far suggest that a single treatment, or two treatments, with psychedelics can relieve depression for an extended period, because the psychedelics cause the patient to see the world differently.
January 2021
The Howling Wilderness
Doug Smith Tells The Truth About Wolves, But Will Anyone Listen?
Wolves are an odd species. We have persecuted them more than any other wild animal, and yet they will stop to look at you, and occasionally take a step toward you. To me those moments are spiritual. That’s what we’re losing today.
December 2020
Our Great Reckoning
Eileen Crist On The Consequences Of Human Plunder
In this current pandemic the fear and upheaval drove Americans to hoard toilet paper and guns and ammo. Try to imagine a food shortage instead of a scarcity of toilet paper.
November 2020
Dark Corners
Whitney Phillips On Conspiracy Theories, Social Media, And The Spread Of Misinformation
When COVID-19 hit, Dr. Anthony Fauci was portrayed on the Right as a deep-state villain, one of these “elitists” who are trying to tell “us” how to live in Middle America.
October 2020
Many Voices
Cristina Beltrán On What Unites And Divides Latinos
I wish the Democratic Party would put more resources into these communities instead of waiting until shortly before an election and parachuting in a few campaign workers to do some half-assed Latino-turnout work. Latinos are not automatically the firewall for the Democratic Party.
September 2020
The Most Dangerous Place
Rachel Louise Snyder On The Persistent Problem Of Domestic Violence
Another woman’s husband got a rattlesnake and kept it in a cage at home. He would threaten to put it in the bed or the shower with her. That kind of emotional torture needs no physical violence.
September 2020
Even Money
Dietrich Vollrath On Repairing America’s Economic Inequality
I think the pandemic is changing people’s idea of what the government should and could do. It’s definitely made them frustrated with what it can’t do.
August 2020
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