Browsing: Lens_ideas

How the null hypothesis keeps the hairy hominid alive.

From a childhood hallucination to the halls of theoretical physics.

How is it possible to get something from nothing?

Traditional performers at the 2007 Mt. Hagen Cultural Show in Papua New GuineaIan @ ThePaperboy When people think of religions, they tend to turn to of the big five: Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism. Although these are the most popular religions in the world, they are a minuscule sample of the thousands of religions […]

The Summer 2014 Quarterly tackles image and object.

I was puzzled by the artist’s photographs of my home in the Amazon—then I looked again.

Lord Martin Rees tells us about black holes and existential risks.

The success of the Mormon religion is a study in social adaptation.

A Ganado-style Navajo rugNational Park Service For many thousands of years, and across cultures around the world, symmetry has been seen as beautiful. The mirror-image accuracy of the Parthenon is seen also in the Taj Mahal and the geometric patterns of traditional Navajo rugs. We see symmetry in more fluid, modern media, too, like the […]

In interviews, famous people often say that the key to becoming both happy and successful is to “do what you love.” But mastering a skill, even one that you deeply love, requires a huge amount of drudgery. Any challenging activity—from computer programming to playing a musical instrument to athletics—requires focused and concentrated practice. A […]