Feeling what it’s actually like to be alive in that moment, watching the sunset, is the essence of consciousness —otherwise known as the state of being awake, aware of your surroundings, and able to ...

Ever since we published our very first issue 123 years ago—yes, we’re old—Popular Mechanics has endeavored to help you understand all kinds of technological marvels, from the tools in your shed, to ...

For centuries, the question of what consciousness is—where it comes from, and what it does—was left to philosophers and mystics. But now, scientists across biology, neuroscience, and physics are ...

A few years ago, I climbed over a gate and found myself gazing down at a valley. After I'd been walking for a few minutes, looking at the fields and the sky, there was a shift in my perception.

Scientists once viewed the thalamus largely as a relay station: a kind of biological switchboard routing sensory information ...

The origins of consciousness have been debated by philosophers for centuries. Each conscious person has a sense of "being me," which invariably gives rise to the question of where that sense ...

Imagine slipping into a multiplayer VR version of Grand Theft Auto, racing cars against players scattered across the world. You see a red Corvette speeding beside you. You immediately grip the ...

The progress of science in the last 400 years is mind blowing. Who would have thought we'd be able to trace the history of our universe to its origins 14 billion years ago? Science has increased the ...

A full interview with Donald Hoffman follows this book review Does the moon still exist when you’re not looking at it? In a provocative new book titled The Case Against Reality: Why Evolution Hid the ...

For the average person, any explanation about philosophers and physicists warring over the nature of consciousness — no matter how colorfully described — would probably sound like an embarrassingly ...