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parallel universe
Starts With A Bang
Ask Ethan: Are parallel universes and the multiverse real?
Parallel universes are among the most profound notions in all of quantum physics. It's a compelling and fascinating idea, but is it true?
Ethan Siegel
Collage with a man in a suit, stacked mugs, an upside-down creature, dice, and the text "THE NIGHTCRAWLER" at the top on a dark grid background—hinting at the power of intuition amid surreal imagery.
Business
The importance of intuition and the limits of rationalism
Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.
Eric Markowitz
Starts With A Bang
The ultimate energy limit that lasers will never surpass
Amplifying the energy within a laser, over and over, won't get you an infinite amount of energy. There's a fundamental limit due to physics.
Ethan Siegel
A person wearing a wide-brim hat and vest crouches beside a tree stump covered with various fungi, gazing in wonder at the fascinating growths in the green forested area.
Mini Philosophy
3 ways to find and invite more wonder
Wonder is like a guest you haven’t planned for.
Jonny Thomson
Two tall, rectangular scientific instruments, including a NASA nuclear reactor prototype, stand on the rocky lunar surface with Earth visible in the background against the blackness of space.
Starts With A Bang
What a nuclear reactor on the Moon really means for NASA’s future
There are real concerns with long-term power generation on the Moon; nuclear could be the answer. But for NASA, will the cost be too high?
Ethan Siegel
An older man with white hair and a suit receives a document from another man in a robe during an event, as several people look on in the background. In the age of viral misquotes, capturing such moments accurately becomes ever more crucial.
High Culture
Einstein didn’t say that: How viral misquotes evolve and replicate
From Einstein to Twain, Garson O’Toole investigates the truth behind your favorite — and often misattributed — quotes.
Kevin Dickinson
Bogumil Baranowski, dressed in a dark suit, white shirt, and patterned tie, stands and smiles in front of a plain light blue background.
The Long Game
The Bogumil Baranowski interview: “Treat everyone with care”
The investment advisor and host of the Talking Billions podcast explores childhood curiosity, building networks through kindness, and more.
Eric Markowitz
A group of people in ancient attire react to shadows cast on a wall, referencing Plato’s Allegory of the Cave.
Thinking
The thought experiments that test your life, not your logic
Why some of philosophy’s strangest scenarios are more than mental games.
Shai Tubali
Book cover of "The Cybernetic Society" by Amir Husain, featuring robotic arms—reminiscent of a cybernetic corporation—constructing a cityscape against a black background with blue digital elements.
Business
Why your next CEO could be a machine
Are you ready for the “cybernetic corporation”? Amir Husain “profiles” the hottest company of 2035 — and makes a telling comparison with Nvidia.
Amir Husain
A hexagonal telescope with a gold exterior and an open, black interior is shown against a black background, highlighting NASA habitable worlds observatory science.
Starts With A Bang
NASA’s Habitable Worlds Observatory: the future (or end) of NASA science
At the end of July, hundreds of scientists convened to plan NASA's upcoming astrophysics flagship mission. Will the US allow it to happen?
Ethan Siegel
Map showing Copenhagen, Denmark’s projected 2080 climate as similar to Demigny, France today, with a red arrow connecting the two cities and climate details listed in pop-up boxes.
Strange Maps
Mapped: How warm your city will be in the 2080s
“Climate analog mapping” finds the place that is currently as warm as your city might be in 60 years.
Frank Jacobs
Alex Partridge, a man with short hair and light facial hair, poses for a portrait. The background features abstract geometric and textured patterns in green, black, white, and blue.
Business
The Alex Partridge interview: “Humans thrive through storytelling”
The UNILAD founder followed a rocky road to success — and his 2023 ADHD diagnosis proved revelatory.
Mike Hodgkinson
Starts With A Bang
Extreme black hole system OJ 287 just got more interesting
Two supermassive black holes on an inevitable death spiral push the limits of Einstein's relativity. New observations reveal even more.
Ethan Siegel
creation of adam sistine
Starts With A Bang
Ask Ethan: Why do scientists avoid the possibility of God?
When it comes to our Universe's origins, scientists discuss the Big Bang, cosmic inflation, and other theories. Why doesn't "God" come up?
Ethan Siegel
Five World War I soldiers in uniform stand and sit near sandbags in a trench, with a sign reading "Surrey Lane" visible in the background—evoking camaraderie amid the Ring of Fire on the front lines.
Books
Not just the Western Front: “Ring of Fire” rediscovers WWI’s global story
Historians Alexandra Churchill and Nicolai Eberholst reexamine the pivotal conflict from a grassroots perspective.
Tim Brinkhof
A digital collage with overlapping purple-tinted images, including a traditional building and a sculpture, explores panpsychism under the title "The Nightcrawler" on a black grid background.
Business
On consciousness, AI, and panpsychism
Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.
Eric Markowitz
laniakea
Starts With A Bang
Laniakea, our home supercluster, is already being torn apart
On the largest scales, galaxies don't simply clump together, but form superclusters. Too bad they don't remain bound together.
Ethan Siegel
A man in historical clothing nails a document featuring a cartoon animal face—a nod to popular memes—to a wooden door, while two others watch.
Mini Philosophy
What makes a meme take off? The 3 rules of virality
One does not simply make a meme go viral.
Jonny Thomson
Aerial view of people walking on a paved surface, casting long shadows behind them in bright sunlight.
The Present
Most social trends aren’t what they seem
Our minds crave simple, linear narratives. But society rarely follows a straight line.
Adam Waytz
A human silhouette filled with birds and insects is overlaid with a circular target, binary code, and abstract shapes against a sky background with clouds.
The Well
Social media supercharged our disagreements. Could AI help us resolve them?
Duke sociologist Dr. Christopher Bail on the tech’s potential to foster empathy in an age of division.
Christopher Bail & Lee Helland
John Templeton Foundation
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