If the universe were a simulation, what would change?
Simulation arguments are usually framed as a challenge to religion. Follow the reasoning carefully and it changes the description of creation without touching the question...
Category: All
Understanding
doesn't have to be
locked inside disciplines or jargon.
How the metre was decided
A unit of length was fixed by a survey that turned out to be slightly wrong, and the error is still in the number. What...
What “metabolism” actually means
The word is used to explain almost everything and specifies almost nothing. A plain account of what is being measured, and where the popular version...
The memory you are most sure about
Confidence and accuracy come apart in recall, and the gap is widest for the memories that feel most vivid. What the research shows, and what...
How a lithium battery fails
Every rechargeable cell is a slow chemical compromise. Understanding the failure explains the charging advice better than the advice does.
The colour that had to be manufactured
Some pigments were rare enough to change what painters could depict. A short account of how supply shaped subject matter.
The trouble with asking whether free will exists
Two people arguing about free will are often defining it differently and agreeing on the facts. Laying out the definitions first makes the disagreement smaller...
Why noise-cancelling works, and what it cannot cancel
The physics is straightforward. The reason the quiet feels stranger than expected is not physics at all.
Sleep debt is not a debt
The accounting metaphor is doing a lot of work, and most of it is misleading. What recovery sleep restores, and what it does not.