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Science & Nature

A collection of 264 issues

The Soil and the Silicon: Our Last Best Hope Against Superbugs

To combat drug-resistant superbugs, scientists are turning to two unlikely allies: the earth beneath our feet and the artificial minds in our computers. By using AI to scan millions of compounds and exploring soil for novel bacteria, we are finally discovering entirely new classes of antibiotics.

Medicine, Psychology & Health Technology & Innovation Science & Nature

One Switch from Oblivion: The Terrifying Genius of Nuclear Failsafes

A nuclear bomb isn't a stick of dynamite. It's a delicate puzzle that requires a perfect, synchronized implosion to work. Hitting it with a bullet or dropping it from a plane only breaks the puzzle, scattering radioactive parts but preventing a nuclear blast.

Military Technology & Strategy History Science & Nature

The Horse That Held a Mirror to the Human Mind

A horse that could seemingly perform arithmetic baffled scientists in the early 1900s. The truth was far more profound: Clever Hans wasn't a genius but a master observer of human tells, revealing an unconscious flaw in inquiry that changed science forever.

Psychology & Health History Science & Nature

The Dinner Plate That Framed a Fruit for Murder

For two centuries, Europeans called the tomato the 'poison apple,' blaming it for sickness and death among the aristocracy. The true culprit, however, wasn't the fruit but the very plates they ate from, which leached deadly lead into their acidic meals.

History Food & Lifestyle Science & Nature

Before the Apocalypse: The Real Reason Darkness Consumed New England in 1780

On a spring morning in 1780, the sky over New England went black, convincing panicked citizens that Judgment Day had arrived. For two centuries the cause remained a mystery, until scientists found the culprit written in the rings of ancient trees.

History Mysteries & Unsolved Cases Science & Nature

Biological Black Ops: The High-Stakes Mission to Secure Putin's DNA

On foreign trips, a special detail from Vladimir Putin's security service has a unique mission: collecting his bodily waste. The extreme protocol is designed to thwart bio-espionage, preventing foreign agencies from analyzing his DNA for secrets about his health.

Politics & Power Oddities & Curiosities Science & Nature

The Planet That Could Swim

It's a cosmic paradox: the second-largest planet in our solar system is so light it would float. Saturn's secret isn't that it's hollow, but that its immense atmosphere of hydrogen and helium gives it an average density lower than that of water.

Space & Astronomy Science & Nature Oddities & Curiosities

Earth's Terrestrial Galaxy: The Planet with More Trees Than Stars

It defies intuition, but our planet hosts a forest far vaster than our galaxy's sea of stars. Groundbreaking research reveals Earth is home to over 3 trillion trees, dwarfing the Milky Way's estimated 100-400 billion suns by a factor of at least seven.

Science & Nature Space & Astronomy Environment & Climate

Bubble Trouble: The Anatomy of the Myth That Sparkling Water Is Ruining Your Teeth

The fear that your fizzy water habit is dissolving your teeth is largely a myth. While plain sparkling water is slightly acidic, dental science reveals its threat is minimal, pointing instead to the real, often-overlooked culprits lurking in your glass.

Medicine, Psychology & Health Food & Lifestyle Science & Nature

Einstein's Ghost: How Quantum Entanglement Redefined Reality

Two or more particles can become linked, sharing the same fate no matter the distance between them. Measuring a property of one particle instantly reveals the corresponding property of its partner, a connection Albert Einstein called 'spooky action at a distance.'

Science & Nature Technology & Innovation Inventions & Discoveries

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