Life in the UniverseExplainer
The Fermi Paradox: Where Is Everybody?
Planets are everywhere, yet the sky seems silent. Here is what that silence does and doesn't tell us, and how scientists are listening now.
THE ARCHIVE
All stories.
Every question we have explored so far.
Life in the UniverseExplainer
How Did Life on Earth Begin?
Life appeared early on a young Earth, but no lab has yet recreated the leap from chemistry to biology, and the question remains open.
Life in the UniverseExplainer
How Does Evolution Actually Work?
Small inherited differences, filtered over countless generations, add up to the variety of life. Here is how evolution works and how we know.
Mind & MortalityExplainer
What Happens When We Die?
Medicine can describe how the body and brain shut down. Whether anything of us continues is a question science cannot reach, and traditions answer it differently.
Mind & MortalityExplainer
What Is Consciousness?
Science can map which brain activity goes with experience. Why any of it feels like something from the inside remains one of the great open questions.
Mind & MortalityExplainer
What Do Near-Death Experiences Tell Us?
Near-death experiences are real experiences that can change lives. What causes them, and what they mean, is still an open scientific question.
God & BeliefEssay
Science and Faith: Enemies, Strangers, or Partners?
The 'war' between science and religion makes a dramatic story, but the real history, and what scientists actually believe, is more surprising and more welcoming.
God & BeliefEssay
Can You Be Good Without God?
Most Americans now say you don't need God to be moral, though views differ sharply around the world. The harder question is what makes goodness real, and there thoughtful believers and skeptics part ways.
Meaning & LifeExplainer
What Does Science Say About Happiness?
Decades of research point to a surprising winner, other people, and give honest answers about money, gratitude, and the difference between pleasure and meaning.
Extraordinary ClaimsClaim examination
Are We Living in a Simulation?
What a famous 2003 argument really claims, how scientists have tried to test the idea, and where science runs out.