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From the archives

Dangerous Grounds

Coming soon to a democracy near you

The Collapse of Syria

The story of a nation’s unravelling, one neighbourhood at a time

Trompe Le Toil

The modern conundrum of overwork

Patchen Barss

Patchen Barss writes about science, research and emerging ideas. His book, The Erotic Engine: How Pornography Has Powered Mass Communication, from Gutenberg to Google, was published by Penguin Random House in 2010.

Articles by
Patchen Barss

Going It Alone

The marvellous, single-minded, doggedly strange passion of citizen scientists January 2017
People—especially smart people—often fall prone to the conceit that, if they just had the time, they could totally write a novel, perform standup comedy or run for local office. After all, these jobs require only innately human skills like being able to tell a story, tell a joke or relate well to strangers. Curious, then, that some of these same people—smart people—tend to view science in the exact opposite…