People who reread the same books are not refusing novelty
Rereaders aren't stuck in the past—they're experiencing entirely different books, freed from plot suspense to examine the machinery underneath.
By Lachlan Brown · Aug 11, 2026
Deeper reporting,
thinking made visible.
Longer essays and features from Science Blog. Pieces here go through additional research and review.
Brain & Behavior
The 2025 World Happiness Report found people underestimate community kindness
People routinely underestimate how much strangers will help them, and that misreading cuts deeper into happiness than earning power does.
By Lachlan Brown · Aug 11, 2026
When the Apollo 11 guidance software developed under Margaret Hamilton's leadership began flashing a sequence of 1201 and 1202 alarms more…
At 102:38:26 mission elapsed time, the Apollo 11 lunar module was still more than seven minutes from touchdown when Neil Armstrong announced a program alarm.
Aug 10, 2026
Much of the gold on Earth, in wedding rings and dental fillings and central bank reserve bars, was likely forged when neutron stars…
Almost all of Earth's gold was forged in the collision of two neutron stars long before the solar system formed. The 2017 detection of GW170817 turned that inference into direct observation.
Aug 10, 2026
True intelligence is not simply faster thinking
A careful look at why true intelligence is not just speed or a score, but also adaptation, metacognition, and self-correction.
By Lachlan Brown · Aug 10, 2026
Why retirement can make the question 'What do you do?' unexpectedly difficult
Research on occupational identity suggests that retirement can change how people describe themselves, although the experience and meaning differ from person to person.
Aug 9, 2026
Quote by Anne Lamott: Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you
Most people know the pattern in themselves before they know the words for it. The email that would have taken five minutes at nine in the morning takes twenty at four in the afternoon.
Aug 9, 2026
In 1912, a German meteorologist named Alfred Wegener stood in front of the Geological Association in Frankfurt and argued that the…
On January 6, 1912, a 31-year-old German meteorologist stood in the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt and told a room of geologists that the continents beneath their feet were moving.
Aug 9, 2026
The fluffy white cumulus cloud drifting over your house right now weighs roughly 500 tonnes, the equivalent of 100 elephants, yet it floats…
A typical cumulus cloud may contain about 500 tonnes of liquid water. That water is dispersed as microscopic droplets through a vast, warm and continually changing volume of air.
By Lachlan Brown · Aug 9, 2026