Biology | Primatology
Chapter one
The How and Why of Fame
Culture | Urban Studies
Famous For Being Indianapolis
How cities are like Kim Kardashian.
Biology | Neurology
Ingenious: Robert Burton
What we can—and cannot—learn from brain science.
Numbers | Networks
Homo Narrativus and the Trouble with Fame
We think that fame is deserved. We are wrong.
Biology | Neurology
The Brain on Trial
It’s not fair to ask jurors to vote on a death penalty.
Chapter two
Famous Science
Numbers | Scientific Prizes
The Nobel Exchange
Announcing the Nautilus Nobel Prize Futures Market
Ideas | Paleontology
T. Rex Might be the Thing with Feathers
Behind every famous dinosaur are unsung heroes.
Ideas | Social science
The Famous Anonymous
The problem with Western test subjects.
Matter | Chemistry
Seven Molecules’ Claim to Fame
These infinitesimal celebrities shape us and our world.
Chapter three
The Price of Fame
Culture | Sociology
Fame is Fortune in Sino-science
In China, famous science pays like nowhere else.
Culture | Sociology
The Hannah Montana Hypothesis
Does the Fame Virus plague our youth, and is multimedia to blame?
Ideas | Mortality
Drop-Dead Famous
If we are to learn how to die, we need teachers.
Culture | Fiction
Justin Timberlake and the Whoever of Whatever
Fame drags you down.
Chapter four
The Fame Game
Ideas | Internet Culture
The Meme as Meme
Why do things go viral, and should we care?
Numbers | Mathematics
The Twin Prime Hero
Rags, riches, and fame in mathematics.
Biology | Genetics
Genes That Won the Fame Game
Discover genes that unite life on earth.
Ideas | Linguistics
Fame for 23 Words is 15,000 Years Overdue
The search for our linguistic DNA.
Related Facts So Romantic
“Reality provides us with facts so romantic that imagination itself could add nothing to them.” —Jules Verne
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