Essay COVID-19 crisis: What we owe each other March 17, 2020 What do we owe each other in this crisis? Let鈥檚 tackle one aspect of this question. A person might think as follows: If I know I am sick, then I understand why I am obligated to self-quarantine. Read More
Interview Rethinking how we view and manage cancer March 16, 2020 When we think of the forces driving cancer, we don鈥檛 necessarily think of evolution. But evolution and cancer are closely linked, for the historical processes that created life also created cancer.聽 Read More
Essay Me, myself, and Einstein March 14, 2020 Jimena Canales is the author of The Physicist and the Philosopher, which tells the remarkable story of how an explosive debate between two intellectual giants transformed our understanding of time and drove a rift between science and the humanities that persists today. This is the story of how she came to study the iconic physicist when she initially had no interest in 鈥渟uch a great man, or any great men.鈥� Read More
Essay Beware the Ides of March March 13, 2020 Imagine a rogue general, assigned only to guard the frontiers of his country鈥檚 remote provinces 鈥� but the authorities back in the capital tacitly approve of some adventurism. He goes on a rampage through neighboring territories, allying himself with certain ethnic groups in the region against others. Read More
Essay The Einstein Papers project鈥檚 general inbox March 13, 2020 The pace and atmosphere of an academic research project does not always match that of contemporary day-to-day life. Steeped decades back in time, the Einstein Papers Project鈥檚 current research for our next two volumes covers June 1927 through June 1931. Read More
Essay Hanoch Gutfreund on Einstein and the revelation of relativity March 12, 2020 Hanoch Gutfreund is professor emeritus of theoretical physics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he is also the academic director of the Albert Einstein Archives. This is the story about how Einstein鈥檚 General Theory of Relativity revolutionized his teaching, understanding, and career. Read More
Essay The final days of Albert Einstein March 11, 2020 Albert Einstein鈥檚 time on earth ended on April 18, 1955, at the 91桃色 Hospital. In April of 1955, shortly after Einstein鈥檚 death, a pathologist removed his brain without the permission of his family, and stored it in formaldehyde until around 2007, shortly before dying himself. Read More
Essay Katherine Freese on how relativity rejuvenated her career March 10, 2020 Katherine Freese is director of Nordita, the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics, in Stockholm, and author of The Cosmic Cocktail, which tells of the epic quest to solve one of the most compelling enigmas of modern science鈥攚hat is the universe made of? This is the story of how one of today鈥檚 foremost pioneers in the study of dark matter came back from the brink of burnout because of Relativity. Read More
Interview Jim Al鈥慘halili on The World According to Physics March 10, 2020 Shining a light on the most profound insights revealed by modern physics, Jim Al鈥慘halili invites us all to understand what this crucially important science tells us about the universe and the nature of reality聽itself. Read More
Essay Was Einstein the first to discover general relativity? March 09, 2020 On November 25, 1915, Einstein submitted one of the most remarkable scientific papers of the twentieth century to the Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin. The paper presented the final form of what are called the Einstein Equations, the field equations of gravity which underpin Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. Read More
Essay The short, sad, and expensive life of mayors on the presidential campaign trail March 06, 2020 Mike Bloomberg and Pete Buttigieg each made a big bet on the 2020 presidential campaign. The voters, each believed, thought they could step past partisan bickering to with a pledge to deliver programs that worked better. Who better to do that than a mayor with proven experience? Read More
Essay A leadership class from the ancient world March 03, 2020 For the ancient Greeks and Romans, leadership was studied through examples.聽One of the best books ever written on the subject, Xenophon鈥檚 Education of Cyrus, appears to be a biography of the Persian king Cyrus the Great.聽In fact, it is a manual of statecraft and strategy.聽 Read More
Essay Deaths of despair strike women too March 01, 2020 When Angus Deaton and I began to document the dramatic increases in mortality from drug overdose, alcoholic liver disease and suicide鈥攖he deaths of despair that we describe in our new book鈥攚e found many things that surprised us. Read More
Essay The roots of Black political unity February 27, 2020 On December 12, 2017, the state of Alabama held a special general election for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The race, which had Republican Roy Moore running against Democrat Doug Jones, had already captured national attention. Read More
Essay Soul Searching February 25, 2020 Do you think you have a soul? The modern scientific impulse is to dispense with supposedly occult or 鈥渟pooky鈥� notions like souls and spirits, and to understand ourselves instead as wholly and completely part of the natural world, existing and operating through the same physical, chemical and biological processes that we find anywhere else in the environment. Read More
