Ideas | History
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Chapter one
Families
Ideas | Science Practice
Ingenious: Hope Jahren
Meet the Lab Girl.
Biology | Genetics
Super-Intelligent Humans Are Coming
Genetic engineering will one day create the smartest humans who have ever lived.
Culture | Sociology
Families of Choice Are Remaking America
Through their networks of friends, singles are strengthening society’s social bonds.
Chapter two
Communities
Biology | Environment
The Ecologist Who Threw Starfish
Robert Paine showed us the surprising importance of predators.
Culture | Neuroscience
When You Listen to Music, You’re Never Alone
Technology hasn’t diminished the social quality of listening to music.
Ideas | Philosophy
How the Mormons Conquered America
The success of the Mormon religion is a study in social adaptation.
Biology | Environment
Biosphere—The Remake
This time the test is Earth’s own ecological future.
Chapter three
What It Means
Matter | Physics
How Do You Say “Life” in Physics?
A new theory sheds light on the emergence of life’s complexity.
Matter | Astronomy
The Gravity Wave Hunter
An astrophysicist sits down with Nautilus to discuss cosmology and culture.
Culture | Sociology
Why Are Wheelchairs More Stigmatized Than Glasses?
Improving the lives of disabled people is more than an engineering project.
Biology | Evolution
If the World Began Again, Would Life as We Know It Exist?
Experiments in evolution are exploring what would happen if we rewound the tape of life.
Chapter four
Long Ago
Biology | Paleontology
Strange Worms Are Taking Their Place on Your Family Tree
The Cambrian explosion of animal life now seems more like a whimper.
Biology | Evolution
The Classic Metal Behind the Origins of Life
A collection of metal atoms called the “metallome” helped drive evolution.
Biology | Physiology
Top 10 Design Flaws in the Human Body
From our knees to our eyeballs, our bodies are full of hack solutions.
Biology | Reproduction
Sex Is a Coping Mechanism
Did sexual reproduction evolve to keep up with mitochondrial mutation?
Chapter five
Today
Biology | Environment
Junk Food Is Bad For Plants, Too
How a steady diet of fertilizers has turned crops into couch potatoes.
Biology | Genetics
Does Stress Speed Up Evolution?
Getting control of the molecular mechanisms that drive rapid mutations.
Biology | Animals
The Intelligent Life of the City Raccoon
Adapting to the urban jungle has made Rocky smarter.
Biology | Physics
Can a Living Creature Be as Big as a Galaxy?
Why life is constrained to be about the sizes we see on Earth.
Ideas | Animals
Spark of Science: Sean B. Carroll
One biologist’s love for science got kickstarted by snakes.
Related Facts So Romantic
“Reality provides us with facts so romantic that imagination itself could add nothing to them.” —Jules Verne
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Culture
Listen to an Exclusive Excerpt from Hope Jahren’s New Book, “Lab Girl”
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