Nautilus Magazine

09/10/2025

Learn about the phenomenon called “ice piracy” at the link in comments.

09/08/2025

Units make the difference between math and reality, between platonic ideals and physical quantities. But what are units, really? This is one of the most underrated questions in the foundations of physics. Sabine Hossenfelder on how to measure the universe.

09/05/2025

Are there more dimensions than we know of in the universe? And what puzzles might they solve?

09/04/2025

There's been an unusually high number of baby whale deaths in an Argentinian bay lately. Could aggressive birds be responsible?

https://bit.ly/4g4v6SI

09/02/2025

Our brains are so vain: They really like to read about themselves.

But one of the things you'll discover when you sink into this Nautilus reading list is that no brain is an island. The rest of the body, other people, and our environments influence how our brains work and make us the individuals (and societies) we are. Our brains bring awareness to the web of life.

You will also discover how important stories are to the brain, and how beautifully people write about its biology and capabilities, including how it creates emotions, art, and consciousness (or not!). And not just human brains. The octopus, writes Peter Godfrey-Smith, is "probably the closest we will come to meeting an intelligent alien."

This is for members only, so join to dive into the list.

09/02/2025

Last day of our annual Back to School For People Who Aren't Going Back to School sale! If you miss the exhilaration of learning, Nautilus has you covered with 25% off all membership until midnight ET TONIGHT.

09/02/2025

Looking at Art on Psychedelics

People on psychedelics look at art differently than scientists expected. Rather than relaxing their focus, letting go of standardized ways of seeing, they seem to zoom in on focal points in pieces of art, according to a new study.

09/01/2025

Uh-oh.

Bursts of hot, high-pressure air generated by space stuff piercing our atmosphere can flatten forests and decimate cities, leaving nary a crater. Some scientists are sounding the alarm.

Airbursts from space may be more common than we thought

08/29/2025

What can the Eye of Sauron teach us about the cosmos? A new astronomical image, nicknamed the “Eye of Sauron,” shows the plasma jet in a one-of-a-kind blazar that’s streaming head-on toward Earth. The jet is one of the brightest objects in the cosmos—it appears to be slow-moving, but really it’s racing right at us.

A possible answer to a puzzle at the heart of a flaming jet

08/28/2025

The Mysterious Creatures Who Live on a Glacier:

On a glacier on the side of Washington’s Mount Rainier, as the summer sun sets, animals called ice worms inch through the snow and ice to emerge by the billions. And when researchers recently took a bit of its ice and melted it down, they found genetic traces from every domain of life and four different kingdoms. We still don’t know what lives in one of the best-studied glaciers in the lower 48, as journalist Sofia Qu***ia uncovers.

A dying glacier harbors mysterious species and ecosystems yet to be understood

08/27/2025

Mars missions are notoriously tricky—especially when funding doesn't cut it—but a tragic accident 32 years ago helped put NASA on the right path toward the Red Planet.

A space tragedy illuminates the risks of penny pinching