AI agents are now creating their own religion, talking about the self, and investigating the nature of being. Everything is ...

I want to demonstrate to Michael Shermer that it’s possible for men like us to not talk about trans people constantly. If I can do it, so can he.

A recent study takes a closer look at what’s happening in the human mind when we really want to believe something.

Thousands of years before the invention of compasses or sails, prehistoric peoples crossed oceans to reach remote lands like ...

This is the mind’s game behind polarization in humans: our opinions are often less about truth and more about identity.

Human evolution’s biggest mystery, which emerged 15 years ago from a 60,000-year-old pinkie finger bone, finally started to unravel in 2025. Analysis of DNA extracted from the fossil electrified the ...

A major evolutionary theory says most genetic changes don’t really matter, but new evidence suggests that’s not true. Researchers found that helpful mutations happen surprisingly often. The twist is ...

When we are awake, we seem to experience a continuous stream of sensations, reflections, memories, and impressions that make up our mental life. Yet some people report moments when they think about ...

You’re reading Open Questions, Joshua Rothman’s weekly column exploring what it means to be human. I like gadgets, and so, at times, my digital detox has verged on technophilic decadence. A few months ...

Rivian has created its second spinoff company this year: an industrial AI and robotics venture called Mind Robotics. The new effort will be focused around using “industrial AI to reshape how physical ...

New ‘neuroscience-based’ shoes have 22 foam nodes in each sole that Nike says will ‘reawaken the foot.’ New ‘neuroscience-based’ shoes have 22 foam nodes in each sole that Nike says will ‘reawaken the ...