The Unbelievable Slowness of Thinking
The brain is sometimes called the most complex machine in the known universe. But the thoughts that it outputs putter along at a trifling 10 bits per second, the pace…
How Corals Fight Back against Warming Seas
Most corals can’t relocate, but they’re finding ways to beat the heat
Why new tech only feels good for a short time
The Hedonic Treadmill The psychological phenomenon known as the hedonic treadmill has been well documented since at least the 1970s. The concept refers to how humans tend to revert to…
How We Read: A Graphic Guide to Literacy
How do comics support literacy? For many, learning to read can be a struggle. What are the five keys to learning? How does the brain learn how to sound out…
Tooth and Claw: Wolves
We look at wolves and the programme is a little different, because the predator we’re talking about is very much a predator of our imaginations. Wolves are the spirit of…
Robot history: everything you wanted to know
When did automatons first emerge? Which science-fiction depiction of robots is the most accurate? And why did so many people fall for a hoax machine called the "Mechanical Turk"? In…
The Queer Ecology of Pigeons
The Queer Ecology of Pigeons
A Beetle By Any Other Name
A tiny, unremarkable beetle hiding in the caves of Slovenia has an infamously unfortunate name—one that has sparked heated debates in the scientific world.
Poison and Poisonability
When we think of serial killers, we tend to think of men—Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, Jack the Ripper. But in the 1800s, the deadliest killers often wore corsets. In fact,…
Cory Doctorow on Elon Musk’s “Chaotic Blitz” at DOGE, Living in a Tech Dystopia, Luigi Mangione
We speak with the acclaimed science fiction author, activist and journalist Cory Doctorow, who has spent decades writing and thinking about the impact of technology on our lives. He coined…