The Best of Nautilus Magazine
20+ most popular Nautilus Magazine articles, as voted by our community.
Cutting-edge science, unraveled in award-winning journalism by the very brightest living thinkers. Click the link to subscribe to the newsletter.
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Sugar Pill Nation
Even when we know they’re “fake,” placebos can tame our emotional distress.
Immunity Is a Matter of Timing
Vaccines, infections, and diseases can all be influenced by our circadian rhythm.
The Strange Life of Glass
This essential substance has a history—and future—that’s far from clear.
Why Is Sea Level Rise Worse In Some Places?
One question for Sönke Dangendorf, a coastal flooding researcher at Tulane University.
The Challenge of Blue Carbon
Wetlands store a lot of carbon—but turning that into a business isn’t easy.
Nautilus Magazine on Aging
Nautilus Magazine on Brain
That Is Not How Your Brain Works
Forget these scientific myths to better understand your brain and yourself.
«The third myth is that there’s a clear dividing line between diseases of the body, such as cardiovascular disease, and diseases of the mind, such as depression.»
Your Brain Is Shaped Like Nobody Else’s
Every brain’s white matter is different—and that might hold the key to better treatments.
Nautilus Magazine on Critical Thinking
How Your Brain Fills in the Blanks with Experience
Our neurocircuitry is profoundly shaped by a lifetime of learning.
«Neuroscientist and psychologist Chantel Prat says the languages we speak play a huge role in shaping our minds and brains.»
Nautilus Magazine on Nature
Love Is Biological Bribery
Evolution uses all its tricks to make sure we procreate. But love in humans is a many-splendored thing.
«What happens when you fall in love for the first time is the activation of various areas of the limbic system and the neocortex»
That Snapper You’re Eating Might Be 80 Years Old
Shouldn’t we respect our animal elders, too?
Nautilus Magazine on Neuroscience
The Fine Line Between Life and Not Life
If the brain can’t tell the difference between fiction and reality, what can?
Neuroscience Has a Race Problem
Why Black people are poorly represented in neuroimaging studies—and how science can do better.
Nautilus Magazine on Psychology
Life Is Hard. And That’s Good
When the going gets tough, the tough get philosophical.
«The right perspective in which to think about grief is that it is a manifestation of persisting love,”»
Don’t Give Up on Facts
People of all political stripes can spot misinformation. They just need a nudge.
«simply asking people to reflect on the probability of information being true significantly increases their chances of being able to tell if it is.»
Nautilus Magazine on Quantum Entanglement
They Probed Quantum Entanglement While Everyone Shrugged
This year’s winners of the Nobel Prize in Physics were driven by curiosity, skill, and tenacity.
Nautilus Magazine on Science
A Universal Cancer Treatment?
A medicine that disrupts the DNA replication of cancer cells may be within reach.
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Don’t Treat Your Life as a Project
Fight the tendency to see your life as a narrative journey.
«To see one’s life as a narrative arc, heading for a climax that it may or may not reach, is to see it as a potential failure; but one need not live that way.»
The Evolutionary Mystery of Menopause
New studies reinforce the hypothesis that grandmothers fostered our evolutionary success.
I Didn’t Know My Mind Was So Strange Until I Started Listening to It
I took part in an experiment to decipher my inner thoughts.
Under Anesthesia, Where Do Our Minds Go?
To better understand our brains and design safer anesthesia, scientists are turning to EEG.
A New Doorway to the Brain
Neuroscientists can now explore the “wild west” in our heads in incredible detail—a boon to medicine and understanding what makes us tick.
«University of Geneva and colleagues, including Tanter, used a contrast agent—microbubbles of gas injected into patients’ blood.»
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