
The shaman with a thousand faces
When you hear the word "shaman," I'm guessing a web of associations starts to form in your mind. Perhaps you imagine strange ceremonies and strong substances; maybe you think of an earlier time when m...
24 Jul 20251h 18min

Varieties of childhood
Childhood is a special time, a strange time. Children are adored and catered to—they're given their own menus and bedrooms. They're considered delicate and precious, and so we cushion them from every ...
10 Jul 20251h 28min

Science, AI, and illusions of understanding
AI will fundamentally transform science. It will supercharge the research process, making it faster and more efficient and broader in scope. It will make scientists themselves vastly more productive, ...
26 Jun 202559min

The primeval soil of play
Puppies wrestling and mock-biting each other. Toddlers playing hide and seek. Kittens pouncing—repeatedly—on a toy mouse. You've no doubt looked on at scenes like this with amusement. And you've no do...
12 Jun 202556min

The big five and beyond
If you've heard anything about the study of human personality, you've probably heard about the "big five." This is a framework that attempts to characterize human personality in terms of five broad fa...
29 Mai 20251h 46min

Philosophers on psychedelics
Some call it the "psychedelic renaissance." In the last decade or so, interest in psychedelic drugs has surged—and not just among Silicon Valley types and psychiatrists and neuroscientists. It's also ...
14 Mai 20251h 40min

The cuttlefish and its coat of many colors
We humans have a hard time becoming invisible. For better or worse, we're basically stuck with the skin and body we have; we're pretty fixed in our color, our shape, our overall appearance. And so we'...
30 Apr 20251h 33min

Life, free energy, and the pursuit of goals
You've probably come across the "free energy principle." It's become one of the most influential ideas in the broader cognitive sciences. Since the neuroscientist Karl Friston first introduced it in 2...
17 Apr 20251h 6min




















