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Headshot of Sidney Perkowitz

Sidney Perkowitz

Sidney Perkowitz writes frequently about science and technology. His latest books are Frankenstein: How a Monster Became an Icon; Physics: A Very Short Introduction; and Real Scientists Don’t Wear Ties: When Science Meets Culture.

Collage of women astronomers

Eight Women Astronomers You Should Know

A guided tour of selected luminaries of astronomy, from Ancient Greece to today.
A tunnel of carious speckles and colors

How to See the Invisible Universe

Telescopes that detect long-wavelength signals offer clues about the Big Bang, the centers of black holes, and the origins of life.
White matter fibres

Can Zapping Your Brain Really Make You Smarter?

Early scientific results on transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) show promise, but are they enough to support a multi-billion-dollar industry?
The number 2

The Quantum Random Number Generator

It’s real. And it will use quantum entanglement to generate true mathematical randomness. Here’s why that matters.
econophysics

Sociophysics and Econophysics, the Future of Social Science?

Can empirical data about human behavior make the “soft” sciences more like the “hard” ones? New interdisciplinary fields are voting yes.
BLADE RUNNER 2049

Do We Have Moral Obligations to Robots?

The recent film Blade Runner 2049 engages with questions raised by Karel Čapek and Isaac Asimov: What do we owe our creations (and what do they owe us)?
eugenics eyes

How to Understand the Resurgence of Eugenics

The extreme right wing has brought the discredited idea of eugenics back into the national conversation. Brave New World and Gattaca offer perspective.
Paul Otlet

The Internet Before the Internet: Paul Otlet’s Mundaneum

Belgian information activist Paul Otlet envisioned some of the possibilities of today’s Web more than a century before its existence.
Smart home automation: remote controlling house temperature

The Internet of Things: Totally New and A Hundred Years Old

The modern Internet of Things and E.M. Forster's short story, "The Machine Stops"