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For hundreds of thousands of years, humans have been shaping and managing the world. Recently, we’re doing it with increasing speed, influence, and zeal. We shape and are shaped by our caretaking, consumption, manipulation of, destruction of and compassion for other beings. Human life is a multispecies endeavor, a current in which humans and our…

Awe is a powerful force, a fact that is both exciting and terrifying. KEY TAKEAWAYS Awe is a complex feeling. It is a combination of reverential respect mixed with fear or wonder, or an emotion combining dread, veneration, and marvel.  Humans are not the only animals to experience awe, but our experience of it is…

Concern over the world having too many people or too few has led some public figures to predict doom for humanity. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)BY LAURA J. MARTIN, ERLE C. ELLIS AND AGUSTÍN FUENTESMARCH 28, 2022 3 AM PT Will birth rates doom humanity? Tech billionaire Elon Musk sounded an old alarm in December when he claimed that…

Evidence from various sciences reveals that there are diverse ways of being male, female, or both. An anthropologist argues that embracing these truths will help humans flourish. By Agustín Fuentes 11 MAY 2022 This article is also available in: Español AGUSTÍN FUENTES is a professor of anthropology at Princeton University. At the recent U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings…

When we hear about governments that censor science and literacy, we’re likely to presume said governments are totalitarian dictatorships or fundamentalist regimes. But such governmental censorship also occurs in countries with democratic processes like, say, the U.S. (D’oh!), which is beginning to look a lot like Turkey. Think that sounds far-fetched? Think again. The Turkish…

The new president and his cabinet are taking great strides to avoid discussions that include data and analyses from scientists worldwide. It is almost as if they fear data (and science). Why? Probably because copious amounts of scientific data contradict many of their key assertions. Data are the facts and statistics, the qualitative and qualitative…

Can we bridge the gap between Americans? If you randomly select 5 Americans and give them the statements (or tweets) of a certain conspicuous politician and ask them “is this truthful?” chances are you will get at least 2, if not 5, different responses. Why do some people believe what is an obvious lie to…

Our brains are powerful lie detectors, let’s use them. Knowledge matters now, maybe more than ever. We all have the capacity to see through lies, and protect ourselves from misinformation, but those capacities must be honed, exercised and fortified on a daily basis. The Internet abounds with fake news and misrepresentations. Here are some suggestions…