Martin Scorsese explains why he said that Marvel movies aren’t cinema. "Many of the elements that define cinema as I know it are there in Marvel pictures. What’s not there is revelation, mystery or genuine emotional danger. Nothing is at risk. The pictures are made to satisfy a specific set of demands, and they are designed as variations on a finite number of themes."
Dueling brain waves anchor or erase learning during sleep.
Deep sleep drives brain fluid oscillations. Rhythmic fluid flows in deep sleep may allow communication and clearance of waste products.
Melting with tenderness. Vladimir Nabokov on Apostrophes. An interview with Bernard Pivot first broadcast 30 May 1975.
Who needs literature? Essay, first published in 1963, by Isaac Bashevis Singer winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1978. "Why invent things when nature and life supply so many strange events? I sometimes fear that all of humankind may sooner or later come to my conclusion: that reading fiction is a waste of time."
The world in a song. "Building on a new collection of song recordings and ethnographies from around the world called the Natural History of Song database, the authors find that not only is music universal (in the sense of existing in all sampled cultures) but also that similar songs are used in similar contexts around the world."
Attraction to the recent past in aesthetic judgments: A positive serial dependence for rating artwork. "In conclusion, we found a serial dependence for aesthetic judgment of artwork, with aesthetic ratings of participants biased toward the recent past."
The Church, intensive kinship, and global psychological variation.
Scientists debate the origin of cell types in the first animals. Theories about how animals became multicellular are shifting as researchers find greater complexity in our single-celled ancestors.
Robust evidence of declines in insect abundance and biodiversity. Data are mounting that document widespread insect losses. A long-term research project now provides the strongest evidence of this so far.
Computers evolve a new path toward human intelligence. Neural networks that borrow strategies from biology are making profound leaps in their abilities. Is ignoring a goal the best way to make truly intelligent machines?
After millions of games, machine learning algorithms found creative solutions and unexpected new strategies that could transfer to the real world.
The myth and magic of generating new ideas. Mathematician Dan Rockmore on how to get the mind in motion. I too often get ideas when I’m hiking or in a dream-wake state.
Moles have one of the most unusual walks on Earth. And we only found out in 2019.
Bad dog? Think twice before yelling, experts say.
A better way to convert dog years to human years.
In the halls of mountain kings. On the etymology of the word "fairy".
Global impacts of thawing Arctic permafrost may be imminent.