Scientists unveil a new inventory of the universe’s dark contents.
Deprovincializing Philosophy. Carlos Fraenkel reviews Peter Adamson’s Philosophy in the Islamic World. "It compels us to reconceptualize the history of philosophy as a whole and the nature of philosophy in the Islamic world in particular."
Dutch artist Peter Struycken on poor museum lighting (in Dutch). I couldn't agree more. The (artificial) light in most (art) museums is terrible.
How your mind protects you against hallucinations.
New support for a hypothesis about how life first formed. Take chemistry, add energy, get life. The challenge is to create life under laboratory conditions.
The curious conundrum of Freud’s persistent influence.
How to defeat procrastination. Visualise your future self.
You are the product. John Lanchester reviews three recent books about Silicon Valley.
The LA rag trade. A fascinating peek into a global supply chain.
Tim Parks on books we don't understand. I didn't quite get Thomas Mann's Death in Venice when I read it in high school. I should give it a second try some time.
Gum. Excerpt from Autumn, the first volume to be translated into English from a new quartet of books by Karl Ove Knausgaard.
John Supko on how he taught his computer to write its own music.
The hijacking of the Brillante Virtuoso, a USD 100 million supertanker. Excellent reporting.
Michael Lewis on why the scariest nuclear threat may be coming from inside the White House. Does anyone in the White House really understand what the Department of Energy actually does? Good question.
Is the world really better than ever? It depends on who you ask and how you look at it.
Marina Warner reviews The Work of the Dead: A Cultural History of Mortal Remains by Thomas Laqueur. I've added it to my reading list.
I concur with Izabella Kaminska, this paper on the finance franchise by Robert C. Hockett and Saule T. Omarova is a must read (if you're interested in finance or banking). The textbook model of finance is out of date and wrong.
British Columbia is having its worst wildfire season on record. More than 2.5 million acres have burned there since April, nearly six times the typical amount for a full year.