Read Chuck Klosterman, Blow Your Mind, Then Put on Your Pants
Chuck Klosterman’s new book, But What If We’re Wrong? succeeds by failing spectacularly.
Science
Toward an Encyclopedia Apocalyptica
To a post-apocalyptic population, merely explaining scientific and technological facts about our situation won't help. We'll need a guidebook.
Must We Sacrifice the Beasts at the Altars of Our Fierce Gods?
Like the Aztecs before us, and despite the sheen of humane treatment, zoos continue to be sites of ritual animal sacrifice.
Consider the Troll
The pressing question isn't so much what a troll is and how he came to be, but what to do when confronted with a troll.
We Have Never Been Human
Within our bodies, single-celled organisms outnumber cells that we identify as human DNA ten to one. We're merely a colony within a colony within a colony.
Is There a June Cleaver on Mars?
What kind of world-building is NASA’s white, suburban, nuclear family propaganda of exoplanet travel establishing, exactly?
A Brief Lesson on Poetry for Physicists
Praise for Carlo Rovelli's international bestseller Seven Brief Lessons on Physics has been near universal. Can the reviewers all be wrong? Yes, they can.
E.T. Was Gay
Steven Spielberg’s most child-friendly blockbuster, E.T., primed a generation to be more accepting of homosexuality.
The Biosemiotics of Butterflies: A Conversation With Victoria Alexander
It makes me miserable to see an artist turning himself into a handmaiden of science, using his skill to illustrate (or interpret) scientific concepts. C’mon man, I want to say, don’t make your art about science, use your art to do science.
Where Is the Truth in Our Romance of Popular Physics?
If all the truth of physics is in the math, what kind of storytelling are we lay persons getting when we read popular accounts of physics that are completely stripped of it?
The Year’s Best Science Fiction Movie Wasn’t ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’
Alex Garland’s Ex Machina is a darkly funny and philosophical cyberpunk locked-room thriller that tangles with the greatest sci-fi puzzle: What does it mean to be human?
‘Breaking Bad’-Style Cocktails and Chemicals
Ever wanted to cook it up yourself, ala Walter White-style?