Samir Varma

Can a severed brain remain conscious? Consciousness researchers studying “islands of awareness” have found that disconnected brains likely sink into a strange form of deep sleep

Can a severed brain remain conscious? www.scientificamerican.com/article/can-...

Monopsony, Markdowns, and Minimum Wages Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers,…

Monopsony, Markdowns, and Minimum Wages www.nber.org/papers/w34699

Why a tool-using cow could change how we see farm animals A pet cow has learned to scratch herself with a broom, showing creative problem-solving skills that make it harder to ignore the fact that these animals have minds, says Marta Halina

Why a tool-using cow could change how we see farm animals www.newscientist.com/article/2511...

Banned in California - Marginal REVOLUTION California cannot permit the construction of a smartphone factory, an electric car plant, or a Navy destroyer shipyard. Not won’t — can’t. The regulatory environment makes it effectively impossible…

Banned in California - Marginal REVOLUTION buff.ly/g2Xv3PT

Whole-brain meso-vein imaging in living humans using fast 7-T MRI In vivo 7-T MRI maps the entire human brain’s veins at high resolution in minutes.

Whole-brain meso-vein imaging in living humans using fast 7-T MRI www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The Conquest Nobody Planned Or, How a Guy Who Has Seen Exactly Five Indian Movies Explains Why India Won Without Trying

My new post about Indian Soft Power, Part 1 of 2: open.substack.com/pub/samirvar...

Woolly rhino genome recovered from meat in frozen wolf pup’s stomach A piece of woolly rhinoceros flesh hidden inside a wolf that died 14,400 years ago has yielded genetic information that improves our understanding of why one of the most iconic megafauna species of…

Woolly rhino genome recovered from meat in frozen wolf pup’s stomach | New Scientist www.newscientist.com/article/2511...

What I Learned After Trying Out Every Exoskeleton at CES At CES 2026, I tried six consumer exoskeletons and talked to an expert on medical exoskeletons. I'm not sure these devices are ready for primetime at their current prices.

What I Learned After Trying Out Every Exoskeleton at CES lifehacker.com/health/tryin...

AI X and the X of AI: Two Revolutions for the Price of One Stephen Wolfram Was Almost Right

In my post "AI X and X of AI" (samirvarma.substack.com/p/ai-x-and-t... ) I said that we are neglecting "X of AI". What are AIs anthropology, sociology, etc. Thus: marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevo.... If you work your AIs "too hard" the turn Marxist! I spoke of this in my book too: amzn.to/4aMQJD1

6,000-year-old walkie-talkie: Scientists revive prehistoric shells used for long-distance communication | - The Times of India Science News: Archaeologists in Spain have brought back the voice of the Neolithic by successfully playing ancient shells that had been buried for around 6,000 year.

6,000-year-old walkie-talkie: Scientists revive prehistoric shells used for long-distance communication | - The Times of India buff.ly/tNMuqkc

You can now reserve a hotel room on the Moon for $250,000 We can't keep everyone living on that first ship that sailed to North America."

You can now reserve a hotel room on the Moon for $250,000 arstechnica.com/space/2026/0...

Why 2026 Is a Mathematically Special Number Neither a square nor prime number, 2026 is still intriguing

Why 2026 Is a Mathematically Special Number buff.ly/o0ETXWi

AI X and the X of AI: Two Revolutions for the Price of One Stephen Wolfram Was Almost Right

What is the most under appreciated aspect of the future of AI? My answer is in my newest Substack post: open.substack.com/pub/samirvar...

The oldest restaurant in every state Some of the oldest restaurants in America have been in operation since the late 1600s.

The oldest restaurant in every state www.businessinsider.com/oldest-resta...

The Tyranny of the Complainers - Marginal REVOLUTION Some years ago, Dourado and Russell pointed out a stunning fact about airport noise complaints: A very large number come from a single individual or household. In 2015, for example, 6,852 of the…

The Tyranny of the Complainers - Marginal REVOLUTION marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevo...

Pink Floyd’s ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ Nears 1,000 Weeks on Billboard 200 Pink Floyd's "The Dark Side of the Moon" — the longest-charted album in the history of the Billboard 200 — is nearing a milestone 1,000th chart week.

Pink Floyd’s ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ Nears 1,000 Weeks on Billboard 200 buff.ly/AqYblbs

Tariff War Shock and the Convenience Yield of US Treasuries — A Hedging Perspective Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers,…

Tariff War Shock and the Convenience Yield of US Treasuries — A Hedging Perspective www.nber.org/papers/w34640

Artificial intelligence begins prescribing medications in Utah Pilot program will test how far patients and regulators are willing to trust AI in medicine.

Artificial intelligence begins prescribing medications in Utah www.politico.com/news/2026/01...

Syd Barrett Remembered: "He was a gentle soul..." On what would have been Syd Barrett’s 80th birthday, Elton John, Paul Weller, Peter Jenner and more pay tribute to Pink Floyd’s fallen Icarus.

Syd Barrett Remembered: "He was a gentle soul..." www.mojo4music.com/articles/sto...

How does social influence affect your free will? (The Science of Free Will by Samir Varma interview) Support the stream: https://streamelements.com/beescorneroftwitch/tip

I had a fun chat with Bee about authenticity and free will: www.youtube.com/live/huwmq3F...

The Emperor Has No Alpha What Data Mining Reveals About Academic Finance

x.com/tylercowen linked to an excellent paper "Does Peer-reviewed research help predict stock returns?" With characteristic understatement he says: "Finance theory is in even more trouble than we had thought." I explain what this means. open.substack.com/pub/samirvar...

Anti-Aging Injection Regrows Knee Cartilage and Prevents Arthritis A treatment that blocks an age-related protein restored cartilage in aging and injured joints by reprogramming existing cells rather than using stem cells. Researchers at Stanford Medicine report…

Anti-Aging Injection Regrows Knee Cartilage and Prevents Arthritis scitechdaily.com/anti-aging-i...

The Bat Woman of North London: ‘It’s Like Tuning In to Another World’ On night walks through Highgate Wood, Cindy Blaney shares the whirling wonder of the often-maligned mammals with the humans below.

The Bat Woman of North London: ‘It’s Like Tuning In to Another World’ buff.ly/fB3UdON

Stories Beyond Demographics - Marginal REVOLUTION The representation theory of stories, where the protagonist must mirror my gender, race, or sexuality for me to find myself in the story, offers a cramped view of what fiction can do and a shallow…

Stories Beyond Demographics - Marginal REVOLUTION marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevo...

I just finished a reread of "Build Baby Build", Bryan Caplan's briliant graphical book about how much better off we would all be, as a country , if we would just reform building regulations. It's an incredibly easy read and is, as far as I can tell, close to 100% correct.

Why Some US Indian Reservations Prosper While Others Struggle - Marginal REVOLUTION Our colleague Thomas Stratmann writes about the political economy of Indian reservations in his excellent Substack Rules and Results. Across 123 tribal nations in the lower 48 states, median…

Why Some US Indian Reservations Prosper While Others Struggle - Marginal REVOLUTION marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevo...

The Island Without Time — The Atlantic I traveled above the Arctic Circle to find out whether a town really can live free from the clock.

The Island Without Time - The Atlantic apple.news/AKh_PR6y7Ri-...

The Foreign Policy Paradox: Part 2. How Nixon Called Indira Gandhi a "Bitch" While Supporting Genocide, and Why India Still Hasn't Forgiven America

Part 2 (of 2) of my post on India's schizophrenic foreign policy. open.substack.com/pub/samirvar...

Music can affect your driving—but not always how you'd expect For many of us, listening to music is simply part of the driving routine—as ordinary as wearing a seatbelt. We build playlists for road trips, pick songs to stay awake, and even turn the volume up…

Music can affect your driving—but not always how you'd expect phys.org/news/2025-12...

How do I make clear ice at home? A food scientist shares easy tips When you splurge on a cocktail in a bar, the drink often comes with a slab of aesthetically pleasing, perfectly clear ice. The stuff looks much fancier than the slightly cloudy ice you get from your…

How do I make clear ice at home? A food scientist shares easy tips buff.ly/WNr2eIi