Nautilus

nautil.us

Science writing as literature. Single-topic issues, single-author features, deeply researched. Read for the reasoning, not the headlines.

2106 articles0 followers

Recent articles

Nautilus

How to Heal People with Science Fiction

A new healthpunk movement aims to teach physicians to use their imaginations The post How to Heal People with Science Fiction appeared first on Nautilus.

Kristen FrenchJun 9, 2026

Nautilus

Mysterious Web-Footed “Ghost Dog” Caught on Camera

The elusive canids deliberately avoid humans The post Mysterious Web-Footed “Ghost Dog” Caught on Camera appeared first on Nautilus.

Jake CurrieJun 9, 2026

Nautilus

Koalas Were in Trouble Before Humans Arrived in Australia

DNA evidence points to environmental upheaval as a cause of their Late Pleistocene decline The post Koalas Were in Trouble Before Humans Arrived in Australia appeared first on Nautilus.

Devin ReeseJun 9, 2026

Nautilus

See the First-Ever Photos of Cozumel’s Mysterious Dwarf Fox

Many believed the tiny fox had gone extinct The post See the First-Ever Photos of Cozumel’s Mysterious Dwarf Fox appeared first on Nautilus.

Jake CurrieJun 9, 2026

Nautilus

Here’s Why Our Walking Gets Slower as We Age

And the best ways to prevent it The post Here’s Why Our Walking Gets Slower as We Age appeared first on Nautilus.

Jake CurrieJun 9, 2026

Nautilus

Dogs Could Be Humanity’s Best Friend in the Fight Against This Invasive Species

A new trick for Fido—finding spotted lanternfly eggs The post Dogs Could Be Humanity’s Best Friend in the Fight Against This Invasive Species appeared first on Nautilus.

Devin ReeseJun 9, 2026

Nautilus

Check Out the Newest Fluorescent Amphibian

Another terrestrial organisms glows with UV light The post Check Out the Newest Fluorescent Amphibian appeared first on Nautilus.

Devin ReeseJun 8, 2026

Nautilus

Human Ancestors Were Using Fire Earlier Than Previously Thought

Early hominins seemingly first tamed a flame 1.8 million years ago The post Human Ancestors Were Using Fire Earlier Than Previously Thought appeared first on Nautilus.

Jake CurrieJun 8, 2026

Nautilus

Vast Hidden Structure Discovered Beneath Antarctica

The massive formation is older than the continents The post Vast Hidden Structure Discovered Beneath Antarctica appeared first on Nautilus.

Jake CurrieJun 8, 2026

Nautilus

How Big Tobacco Marketing Made it into Our Lunch Boxes

Ultra-processed foods and cigarettes share parent companies and sales tactics The post How Big Tobacco Marketing Made it into Our Lunch Boxes appeared first on Nautilus.

Jake CurrieJun 8, 2026

Nautilus

Your Saliva Knows How Sleepy You Are

Sleep-deprived? Spit here. The post Your Saliva Knows How Sleepy You Are appeared first on Nautilus.

Jake CurrieJun 8, 2026

Nautilus

Lessons in Chemistry, 19th-Century Style

She wrote the bestseller that made young people fall in love with science The post Lessons in Chemistry, 19th-Century Style appeared first on Nautilus.

Regan PenalunaJun 8, 2026

Nautilus

The Perils of Letting Machines into the Hive Mind - Nautilus

We think we know more than we do—including how machines will behave.

Sep 20, 201715 min read

Nautilus

Manhattan’s God of Insects - Nautilus

Lawrence Forcella reminds us why we loved bugs as kids.

Sep 20, 201715 min read

Nautilus

Why We Need More Intellectually Promiscuous Scientists - Nautilus

When Thomas Steitz, Ada Yonath, and Venkatraman Ramakrishnan were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their research, in 2009, they acknowledged a debt. Without the work of two of the Physics Laureates that year, the chemists would have lacked the CCD detectors, or high-quality imaging hardware, they used to model and image ribosomes,…

Sep 18, 20172 min read

Nautilus

This Crystal Mimics Learning and Forgetting - Nautilus

You don’t need a brain to learn. Slime molds, for example, solve mazes and navigate obstacles—all without a single neuron. Information about their environment is somehow stored across their bodies. (Scientists are still a bit hazy on how this works.) But what about something that isn’t even alive? A new paper suggests that samarium nickelate…

Sep 18, 20174 min read

Nautilus

Why I Keep Quiet About Being a Cancer Doctor - Nautilus

If I lie or change the subject when you ask me what I do for a living, please don't be offended.

Sep 13, 20177 min read

Nautilus

Why Cassini Is Ending Its Life with a Kamikaze Plunge - Nautilus

This Friday, NASA’s Cassini probe will run out of fuel and take pictures as it plummets at 75,000 miles per hour through Saturn’s atmosphere. It won’t be crashing—the heat from friction will make Cassini immolate in the sky. Cassini has had a good run. Since arriving at Saturn in 2004, the probe has transmitted stunning…

Sep 12, 20174 min read

Nautilus

Why It’s Good to Be Curious About Insects - Nautilus

One of the best jokes May Berenbaum, an entomologist at the University of Illinois, has ever told at a conference goes like this: A man walks into a doctor’s office, imploring her for help. “I think I’m a moth,” he says. The doctor goes, “It’s clear you have a problem, but I’m a pediatrician not…

Sep 12, 20172 min read

Nautilus

The Jazz Pianist Vijay Iyer Played “Remembrance” for Us on 9/11 - Nautilus

Iyer analyzes the morphology of jazz with the precision of a scientist.Photograph by Bruno Bollaert / Flickr When we visited Vijay Iyer three years ago, on Sept. 11, at his home in Harlem, the monthly Nautilus theme was Genius. The jazz pianist was glad to talk about the subject and play signature pieces by Thelonious…

Sep 11, 20173 min read

Nautilus

Why Hasn’t Evolution Made Another Platypus? - Nautilus

The debate over whether evolution is predictable or haphazard.

Sep 11, 201720 min read

Nautilus

Google Thought I Was a Man - Nautilus

How Facebook and Google build a picture of who you really are.

Sep 9, 20177 min read

Nautilus

A Letter to Einstein from the Future - Nautilus

Two Princeton physicists catch Albert up.

Sep 9, 20177 min read

Nautilus

How Hurricanes Turn Nature Upside Down - Nautilus

When hurricanes tear apart cityscapes and shorelines, and humans rebuild them, the biosphere twists and turns, shuffling the ecological deck.“The Garden of Earthly Delights,” central panel, by Hieronymus Bosch (circa 1480-1490) / Wikimedia Alligators wandering through inundated streets, snakes hiding on porch doors, deer careening across neighborhoods, and other wild sights emerged in the aftermath…

Sep 8, 20173 min read

Nautilus

A Simple Visual Proof of a Powerful Idea in Graph Theory - Nautilus

Ramsey’s theorem predicts a surprising (and useful) consistency in the organization of graphs. Here’s a simple visual proof of how it works.Image by Lucy Reading-Ikkanda/Quanta Magazine; Source: Jonathan Jedwab, Simon Fraser University Reprinted with permission from Quanta Abstractions A recent advance in geometry makes heavy use of Ramsey’s theorem, an important idea in another field—graph theory.…

Sep 8, 20174 min read

Nautilus

The Math That Promises to Make the World Brighter - Nautilus

The color of LED lights is controlled by a clumsy process. A new mathematical discovery may make it easier for us to get the hues we want.

Sep 7, 20174 min read

Nautilus

How We Cope with the End of Nature - Nautilus

As our environment crumbles, we seek solace in animatronic moose.

Sep 6, 201716 min read

Nautilus

Why We Had to Change the Meaning of Nothing - Nautilus

Nothing” isn’t what it used to be. It used to be something self-evident: the opposite, or the absence, of something. We still use the word this way colloquially, of course. When I’m asked, on the sidewalk, if I can spare some change or a dollar, I say, if I have neither, “Sorry, I got nothing.”…

Sep 5, 20173 min read

Nautilus

The Oldest Mini-Brains Have Lifelike Young Cells - Nautilus

“Organoid” brain tissue models grown in a lab for two years can help scientists study a critical period of development just before and after birth.

Sep 5, 20176 min read

Nautilus

For Astronomers, Neutron Star Merger Could Eclipse Eclipse - Nautilus

Even as the solar eclipse was mesmerizing millions, astronomers were training their space- and land-based telescopes on a far more violent astrophysical event.

Sep 5, 20175 min read