BiotechFebruary 9, 2019
Are Cyborg Warriors a Good Idea?
The Pentagon is funding brain-implant research aimed at creating neurally “enhanced” soldiers
Stories by John Horgan
John Horgan is a freelance journalist and a former Scientific American staff writer. He comments on science in his free online journal, Cross-Check, and he has also posted his self-published books Mind-Body Problems (2018) and My Quantum Experiment (2023) online. Horgan teaches science writing at the Stevens Institute of Technology.
PolicyFebruary 1, 2019
The Deep Roots of Fake News
A new history of the U.S. traces mass media’s destabilizing effects back to the nation’s birth
PolicyJanuary 24, 2019
Dear Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, Please Work to End War
A science writer urges a progressive young congresswoman to lead a broad peace movement
BehaviorJanuary 22, 2019
Should Reality Make Us Glad or Sad?
Some sages say seeing things as they truly are should make us feel fantastic, but others demur
Mental HealthJanuary 15, 2019
Cypher's Choice: Painful Reality or Pleasant Delusion?
The care of people with dementia poses an agonizing philosophical dilemma
FitnessJanuary 7, 2019
A Former Java Junkie Ponders Coffee's Upside
After a science writer kicks caffeine to reduce his anxiety, a wellness expert assures him that coffee is good for you
PolicyDecember 19, 2018
Visions of a Better World
Noam Chomsky, Richard Dawkins, Martin Rees and others answer the question: What’s your utopia?
Climate ChangeDecember 13, 2018
Dark Days
A science writer struggles to stay upbeat in a troubled time
CognitionDecember 11, 2018
Can Art Solve the Hard Problem?
A play dramatizes the deepest of all mysteries, the mind–body problem
The SciencesDecember 1, 2018
Facing the End of Science
Physicists and others confront science’s limits
The SciencesNovember 19, 2018
The Twilight of Science's High Priests
Books by physics titans Stephen Hawking and Martin Rees recall a bygone golden age, when science seemed capable of anything
OpinionNovember 12, 2018
Don’t Make Me One with Everything
The mystical doctrine of oneness has creepy implications
PolicyNovember 3, 2018
Noam Chomsky Calls Trump and Republican Allies "Criminally Insane"
The great linguist and political critic remains hopeful that we can overcome global warming and other threats
The SciencesNovember 1, 2018
Philosophy Has Made Plenty of Progress
Philosopher Tim Maudlin sees advances in free will, morality and the meaning of quantum mechanics
CultureOctober 23, 2018
Beauty Does Not Equal Truth, in Physics or Elsewhere
Truth can be ugly, and beauty can lead us astray
ComputingOctober 15, 2018
Antiwar Movement Spreads among Tech Workers
Engineering students join Google and Microsoft workers in protesting the tech-industry's enabling of U.S. militarism
The SciencesOctober 8, 2018
Chasing the Quantum Tantra
Hippy physicist Nick Herbert pursues a lifelong love affair with nature
BehaviorOctober 1, 2018
Why the Mind–Body Problem Can't Have a Single, Objective Solution
We cannot escape our subjectivity when we try to solve the riddle of ourselves
BehaviorSeptember 24, 2018
Oneness, Weirdness and Alienation
A new book about psychedelics conveys their subversive, estranging weirdness
FitnessSeptember 17, 2018
Kicking My Caffeine Addiction
A science writer and java junkie struggles to stop abusing the world’s most popular drug
CognitionSeptember 10, 2018
Mind–Body Problems: My Meta-Solution to the Mystery of Who We Really Are
The author of a new book about consciousness, free will and the meaning of life conducts a testy interview with himself
PolicyAugust 22, 2018
The Paradox of Karl Popper
The great philosopher, renowned for his ferocious attacks on scientific and political dogmatism, could be quite dogmatic
CultureAugust 16, 2018
Why STEM Students Need Humanities Courses
The more science and technology dominate our culture, the more we need the humanities
BehaviorAugust 9, 2018
Buddhism, the Good and the Bad
A science writer, in the afterglow of a one-week silent retreat, still has lingering doubts about Buddhism