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+13 +1
A Bird in the Hand
A few years ago, I was reading a book in which the author related a story about a friend of his, a dog owner, who had told him she was glad dogs could have neither thoughts nor feelings as she understood them. Such incomprehensible dogs could not comprehend her. They had no demands to place on her and could not judge...
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+18 +1
How to save the Universe from certain death
It is only a matter of time before our Universe goes black, cold and dies. Must this be the end of the road for life?
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+19 +1
Living With Being Dead
This terrifying disorder turns people into living zombies. But somewhere in the troubled brains of victims may be the ke…
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+12 +1
Head transplants: surgery’s new frontier
Xiaoping Ren stood up after 10 hours hunched over an operating table and looked proudly at his patient, a small black mouse with a new brown head...
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+19 +1
What It’s Like to Be Declared Dead by the Government
Every year, due to typos, 12,000 Americans are erroneously declared dead by the Social Security Administration. Those affected endure the Orwellian nightmare of convincing the government that they are alive.
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+13 +1
Jenny Diski’s End Notes
The English writer is facing death the only way she knows how: line by line.
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+22 +1
Reality Itself Is Malevolent in Thomas Ligotti’s Work
Ligotti’s stories seem almost violently unpalatable. They afford neither easy resolutions nor the seemingly ambiguous but ultimately fulfilling pleasures of so many mystery stories. By Austin Price.
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+40 +1
Sky readers
For most of human history, the stars told us where we were in space and time. Have we forgotten how to look up? By Gene Tracy.
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+21 +1
Why Asia Craves America’s Pig DNA
“You don’t just buy animals. You buy genetic progress.” By Andrew Martin.
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+11 +1
Existential Riddles
Q: Which is heavier, a ton of feathers or a ton of gold? A: Everything is equal in a cruelly indifferent universe. By Ethan Kuperberg.
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+30 +1
The Break-off Effect
The Virgin Galactic crash made the mechanical risks of space tourism clearer, but the psychological effects of space travel largely remain unknown. By Sydney Brownstone. (Nov. 5, ’14)
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+41 +1
France’s Legendary Haunted Lighthouse Has First Resident Since 1910
For French sailors, hell can be found off the coast of Brittany. Between the French mainland and the Île de Sein is a stretch of water known as the Raz de Sein, infamous for its violent currents. The lighthouses dotting the uninhabited islands along the waterway are difficult to reach and can house at most two lighthouse keepers living in austere conditions... By Jessie Guy-Ryan.
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+5 +1
Better Living Through Meaninglessness
I’ve come to realize that my anxiety is more comfortable when I am involved in a contained drama, like a bad haircut. (July ’15)
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+12 +1
Silence the most fitting memorial at Somme commemorations
On centenary of first world war battle, poignant services were attended by political leaders and victims’ descendants. By Esther Addley and Helen Pidd.
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+26 +1
A Nihilist’s Guide to Meaning
I’ve never been plagued by the big existential questions. You know, like What’s my purpose? or What does it all mean? By Kevin Simler.
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+25 +1
‘Hope is an embrace of the unknown’
We may be living through times of unprecedented change, but in uncertainty lies the power to influence the future. Now is not the time to despair, but to act. Rebecca Solnit on living in dark times.
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+40 +1
Should a human-pig chimera be treated as a person?
There is a well-documented organ shortage throughout the world. For example, 3,000 kidney transplants were made last year in the United Kingdom, but that still left 5,000 people on the waiting list at the end of the period. A lucrative trade in organs has grown up, and transplant tourism has become relatively common… By Julian Savulescu.
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+13 +1
The Dread and Bewilderment of Walking in Circles
At one point we grew so frustrated in our circling that we struck off, bushwhacking in the direction we guessed the water must be. By Robert Moor.
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+2 +1
The Stranger Guest: The Literature of Pregnancy and New Motherhood
Lily Gurton-Wachter surveys the literature of pregnancy and new motherhood, from Charlotte Perkins Gilman to Rivka Galchen.
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+20 +1
One of Japan’s most popular mascots is an egg with crippling depression
Gudetama is a cartoon egg yolk that feels existence is almost unbearable. How did it win so many Japanese hearts? By Patrick Winn.
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