Plant scientist Monica Gagliano did a series of groundbreaking experiments that suggest plants have intelligence. But she hasn’t talked—until now—about the leap of faith she took when a plant told her to go on a darkness retreat—for 39 days.More
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Science and Technology
Turns out there is an emerging science of uncertainty — a new frontier in psychology, artificial intelligence, and surgery — where things can go very wrong when people are missing a crucial skill set: being unsure. Maggie Jackson explains.More
Witnessing the beauty of synchronous fireflies in the Great Smoky Mountains inspired author Leigh Ann Henion to turn off her porch light and discover the vast natural world that thrives in the darkness.More
The nocturnal songs of nightingales have captivated artists, poets and musicians for generations. Folk singer Sam Lee celebrates their annual return through intimate nighttime duets — performed in total darkness — that blend human voice and nightingale song.More
Flourishing is a skill, and with a few basic mindfulness practices, we can feel better. Now, neuroscientist Richie Davidson wants to scale up human flourishing to boost the well-being of entire cities.More
Dalal Abu Amneh is a Palestinian singer and neuroscientist. She says music has the capacity to heal and engage the entire brain, and the power to bring people together in the midst of political conflicts.More
Talking with a therapist is a proven path to wholeness, but psychotherapy can often drag on too long. Diana Fosha explains why Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy can have quick results for treating trauma.More
Writer Lowry Pressly argues that privacy is more than just about protecting the personal information you generate; it’s also choosing what to generate at all. It’s a fundamental tool for living our best possible lives.More
Before the era of data mining, scientists in the 1960s began a first-of-its kind study of personality — by secretly studying a group of preschoolers. Former test subject Susannah Breslin uncovers the buried secrets of that study.More
There are approximately 1.4 billion iPhone users worldwide and more than 3 billion Facebook users. In the next few decades, many of those users will die, leaving behind vast amounts of precious data. What happens to all of it?More
153 flavors of ice cream. An acre of cold cereals. Why do supermarkets have so many choices? Or do they? Where we might see hundreds of flavors, varieties and brands of food, food journalist Simran Sethi sees a scary kind of sameness.More
Lidia Yuknavitch’s apocalyptic novel “The Book of Joan” is one of the most stunning examples of climate fiction. It’s the story of a near-future where Earth is decimated and the last few survivors are stranded out in space.More
Scientists know what life does, but what life is… that’s a mystery, says astrobiologist Marcelo Gleiser. And geologist Bob Hazen believes we need a radically new understanding of how life evolved, which begins not with cells but with rocks.More
Not long ago, we thought decoding the human genome would reveal the secrets of life. That proved to be a fantasy. Now scientists are learning how to grow life outside the body — and as science writer Phil Ball discovered, even create mini-brains in a vat.More
Melanie Challenger is a naturalist who spends a lot of time in wild places. She’s intimately familiar with birth and death, and she believes any understanding of what it means to be human must start by tuning into our animal nature.More
When producer Angelo Bautista was growing up, he dreamed of being in the internet. Not on the internet, but inside of it. Now, he's torn about social media. He's still addicted to scrolling, but posting about his own life — that's another story. But if nobody sees you on the internet, do you exist? More
Just over 200 years ago, a group of renegade German writers and philosophers came together in a small town and forever changed who we think we are. Andrea Wulf tells this story in her book “Magnificent Rebels: The First Romantics and the Invention of the Self.” More
Infinity comes in different sizes. The idea of a world with more than one kind of infinity is glorious and also incomprehensible. Can you add, subtract and divide with infinity? More