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Charles Henry Turner with spiders, butterflies, and various insects in the background

Charles Henry Turner’s Insights Into Animal Behavior Were a Century Ahead of Their Time

Researchers are rediscovering the forgotten legacy of a pioneering Black scientist who conducted trailblazing research on the cognitive traits of animals.
by Alla Katsnelson via Knowable Magazine on August 2, 2023
Collage art featuring Dorothy Martin

It’s One of the Most Influential Social Psychology Studies Ever. Was It All a Lie?

A classic book on UFO believers and their “cognitive dissonance” after aliens failed to land is called into question.
by Anna Merlan via Mother Jones on November 25, 2025

The Dawn of the Post-Literate Society

And the end of civilisation.
by James Marriott via Cultural Capital on September 19, 2025
Chalude Shannon, William Weaver, and Italo Calvino, on a background of binary code

Language Machinery: Who Will Attend to the Machine's Writing?

The ultimate semantic receivers, selectors, and transmitters are still us.
by Richard Hughes Gibson via The Hedgehog Review on November 7, 2023
Photo of Joseph Weizenbaum against a collage of antiwar protests and code.

‘A Certain Danger Lurks There’: How the Inventor of the First Chatbot Turned Against AI

Computer scientist Joseph Weizenbaum was there at the dawn of artificial intelligence– but he was also adamant that we must never confuse computers with humans.
by Ben Tarnoff via The Guardian on July 25, 2023
An eight photo collage of pictures showing the proper way for women to smile

Just Wear Your Smile

Few who encounter Positive Psychology via self-help books and therapy know that its gender politics valorize the nuclear family and heterosexual monogamy.
by Micki McElya via Boston Review on September 26, 2022
Smiley face with game pieces as facial features against a blue background

What the History of AI Tells Us About its Future

IBM’s chess-playing supercomputer Deep Blue was eclipsed by the neural-net revolution. Now, 25 years on, the machine may get the last laugh.
by Clive Thompson via MIT Technology Review on February 18, 2022
Hillary Clinton speaking about early childhood development.

The Mismeasure of Minds

25 years later, The Bell Curve’s analysis of race and intelligence refuses to die.
by Michael E. Staub via Boston Review on May 8, 2019

Was the Declaration of Independence Signed on July 4?

How memory plays tricks with history.
by Ray Raphael via Journal of the American Revolution on October 10, 2017

The True Story of Phineas Gage Is Much More Fascinating Than the Mythical Textbook Accounts

Each generation revises his myth. Here’s the true story.
by Sam Kean via Slate on May 7, 2014

We Used to Read Things in This Country

Technology changes us—and it is currently changing us for the worse.
by Noah McCormack via The Baffler on October 27, 2025

How Entertainment Mangled Public Discourse

Neil Postman’s jeremiad against TV seems rather quaint today—and not just because he was shouting into the wind and knew it.
by Katha Pollitt via The New Republic on November 20, 2024
A view of a hallway inside of an archive lined with bookshelves.

On the Dark History and Ongoing Ableist Legacy of the IQ Test

How research helps us understand the past to create a better future.
by Pepper Stetler via Literary Hub on August 23, 2024
network of connected smiling faces

Ecstasy’s Odyssey

When the creator of MDMA first experimented with the drug, he felt a mellow sensation that he compared to "a low-calorie martini."
by Mike Jay via New York Review of Books on May 2, 2024

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