Aeon

Our brains predict the outcomes of our actions, shaping reality into what we expect. That’s why we see what we believe

There’s nothing exceptional about fast evolution. Rapid change, transient or lasting, simply reflects the intensity of selection, the strong action of Darwin’s ‘hostile forces of nature’, including predation, heat, cold, […]

Perverse incentives and the misuse of quantitative metrics have undermined the integrity of scientific research

The next pandemic will erupt, not from the jungle, but from the disease factories of hospitals, refugee camps and cities

The next pandemic will erupt, not from the jungle, but from the disease factories of hospitals, refugee camps and cities

Does history unfold randomly and by chance, or are there underlying patterns and deep connections between its parts?

It looks like scientists and philosophers might have made consciousness far more mysterious than it needs to be

Predictive policing uses algorithms to analyse data and cut crime. But does it really work, and should it be trusted?

Science once communicated in a polyglot of tongues, but now English rules alone. How did this happen – and at what cost?