ToK Essays Nov 2024

The 19th-century discovery of numbers called “quaternions” gave mathematicians a way to describe rotations in space, forever changing physics and math.

The positively charged particle at the heart of the atom is an object of unspeakable complexity, one that changes its appearance depending on how it is probed. We’ve attempted to connect the proton’s many faces to form the most complete picture yet.

Are you a person in a universe or brain in a void? How logicians, cosmologists and philosophers tackle Boltzmann’s paradox

With self-generated gradients of chemicals and physical tension, cells in the body steer themselves to vital destinations.

GettyIn 2003, Hollywood released a disaster movie dubbed The Core in which the Earth’s core inexplicably stops rotating—threatening to destroy all life as we know it due to the collapsing magnetic field. To fix it, a group of scientists are tasked with burrowing under the crust and nuking the core in order to get it to start spinning again.It was a truly ridiculous and convoluted story even by Hollywood standards. But it turns out, there might be some truth to the idea that the Earth’s core can

The loudest sound in the universe, an epic "space roar", was detected in 2006 and scientists still don't know what's causing it.

New work shows that neurons and other brain cells use DNA double-strand breaks, often associated with cancer, neurodegeneration and aging, to quickly express genes related to learning and memory.

"Our Hitler: A Film from Germany" is a vast meditation on storytelling and war.

While the messages at Glastonbury Abbey almost certainly did not come from spirits, a number of studies have shown that they may not have been created by deliberate fraud

UPDATE: In a comment below, Randolph Nesse, one of the founders of "Darwinian medicine," cites a book I'd forgotten: If only everyone interested in this topic could read “Mother Nature: Maternal Instincts and How They Shape the Human Species”, Sarah Hrdy’s 2020 book on the topic. And if only the NY Times would review such…

Scientific American is the essential guide to the most awe-inspiring advances in science and technology, explaining how they change our understanding of the world and shape our lives.

There’s mounting evidence that brain damage has the power to unlock extraordinary creative talents. What can this teach us about how geniuses are made?

One of the most famous scenes in the cosmos is viewed by the new, Nasa-led super space observatory.

What does it mean to alter nature’s evolution? Take a look at six artists that use bioengineering and organic materials to explore the theme of chimeras.

“The more we understand ourselves and the universe, the more magnificent it is.”

Twenty years ago, physicists set out to investigate a mysterious asymmetry in the proton’s interior. Their results, published today, show how antimatter helps stabilize every atom’s core.

Archaeologists believe wave of discoveries set to tumble forth as code cracked by work of pioneering amateur

Could primordial black holes from the beginning of time explain ‘dark matter’, the mysterious missing mass in the Universe?

Scientists have never been able to adequately explain where lightning comes from. Now the first detailed observations of its emergence inside a cloud have exposed how electric fields grow strong…

Cosmic impacts can make planets and moons more porous than previously thought, potentially boosting their ability to host life, a new study finds.

Why is it so difficult to swat a fly? A team of insect experts explains how a fly’s sophisticated vision allows it to quickly react to visual cues.

Loss of vocal membranes enabled a clearer, more stable speech, study argues

The conditions for dry lightning, responsible for devastating California wildfires, have been identified.