ToK Essays Nov 2024

Vast quantities of liquid water may exist on moons of Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune, making life possible there, too

By using machine learning and state-of-the-art supernova nucleosynthesis, a team of researchers have found the majority of observed second-generation stars in the universe were enriched by multiple supernovae. Their findings are reported in The Astrophysical Journal.

Scholars say the likelihood of George North’s unpublished manuscript A Brief Discourse of Rebellion sharing words and features with the Bard’s plays by chance is ‘less than one in a billion’

Given what we know about the inner worlds of nonhuman animals, how can scientists experiment on them for our potential good?

Individual liberty, the common good, and human dignity

Almost half of men would be uncomfortable crying in front of male friends, or saying “I love you” to a male relative

Whether it comes to the Loch Ness Monster, UFOs, the historicity or Jesus or the proposed solutions to the climate crisis, it’s important for skeptics to follow the evidence

From the archives in 2011, Mike Heap examines why we feel remorse is so necessary to the rehabilitation of prisoners, especially if free will is an illusion

In computer simulations of possible universes, researchers have discovered that a neural network can infer the amount of matter in a whole universe by studying just one of its galaxies.

A huge amount of water may be trapped in beads of glass strewn across the moon's surface, an analysis of lunar soil samples delivered by China's Chang’e-5 probe revealed.

A new type of material can learn and improve its ability to deal with unexpected forces thanks to a design inspired by artificial intelligence.

Siddhartha Mukherjee sings the praises of the cell to offer us a holistic portrait of life.

Physicists are using quantum math to understand what happens when black holes collide. In a surprise, they’ve shown that a single particle can describe a collision’s entire gravitational wave.

For over a decade, the Gender Affirmative Model has been the standard of care for gender dysphoric youth across the West. Yet, despite its widespread and long-standing use, good evidence to support it remains elusive.  Maybe that’s because there isn’t any. A new paper reports on result

The space rock has about a 1 in 560 chance of hitting this planet, the agency says.

Huge systems appear to be far larger than was presumed possible so early after big bang, say scientists

Researchers believe that gestures used by great apes were an evolutionary "starting point" for our language.

New research suggests that most people experience less stress once they reach their 40s and 50s.

The ecologist Holly Moeller studies microorganisms that expand their range by absorbing organelles and gaining new metabolic talents from their prey.

Tiny crystals of table salt found in a sample from an asteroid may help explain the enduring mystery of how water arrived on Earth.

Six of the earliest and most massive galaxies that Nasa’s breakthrough telescope has seen so far appear to be bigger and more mature than they should be

A new image shows near-perfect circular sand dunes on the surface of Mars taken as part of a program to see how frost melts on the Red Planet in late winter.

Despite the constant stream of bad news we see in the media, the reality is that living standards have improved dramatically across time.