Articles & Insights
When Winning Gets You Banned: The Curious Ethics of Sports Betting
If the house always wins, what happens when someone forgets to lose?
The Silk Road: A Famous Road Nobody Called the Silk Road
Called the Silk Road What Romans, Persians and Chinese actually called the routes that connected their
The Most Elaborate Plan Ever Devised to Die Twice
The Most Elaborate Plan Ever Devised to Die Twice Cryonics, alien archaeologists, cosmic backups—and one profoundly unnecessary resurrection
Gold in the First Century: Rich, Shiny and Mostly Useless for Building Bridges
Useless for Building Bridges Ancient gold did real work. Just not the sort that involved holding up a roof.
When AI Makes Things Up
Why chatbots hallucinate, why they sound so certain, and how to catch them The confident nonsense machine
The Universe: A Russian Doll With a Black Hole Problem
Problem Wormholes, cosmic clocks, quantum particles and the suspicious possibility of another aeon
The Invader’s Dilemma
The Invader’s Dilemma Can a just war excuse an unjust act?
Short Squeezes, Stubborn Politicians and the Bullet Train Nobody Ordered
Train Nobody Ordered What GameStop, judicial restraint and political imagination have in common
Jesus of Nazareth: Philosopher, Miracle Worker, or Ancient Street Magician?
Ancient Street Magician? A skeptical look at the historical man, the virgin birth, and the making of a legend
Hollywood Has All the Data. So Why Can’t It Predict a Hit?
a Hit? What UFC promoters, movie trailers and uncomfortable audience truths reveal about the entertainment
The Bomb Vest That Hollywood Forgot to Think
About Why some cinematic countdowns collapse under the weight of one obvious question
Why Do Some Athletes Drink Like They Compete?
Compete? The curious overlap between endurance, combat sports and alcohol
Can Science Turn Back the Biological Clock?
The serious research behind rejuvenation, longer lives and the inconvenient matter of not dying The clock has a reverse gear. Possibly.
The Margherita Has a Problem: It Could Be More Interesting
The Margherita Has a Problem: It Could Be More Interesting
When the Crowd Is Wrong: Can AI Escape Humanity’s Bad Habits?
Humanity’s Bad Habits? From ancient traditions to modern algorithms, a short tour of collective irrationality, statistical bias
AI Can Shorten Clinical Trials. Can It Fast-Forward Ageing?
What AI can accelerate in clinical research—and why a faster statistical answer is not the same as faster biological evidence.
Was the Ottoman Empire Fundamentally Evil?
Historical context, comparative judgment, and the problem of putting a six-century civilisation on trial.