Courtesy of Nancy Crampton
At a recent gathering of scientists cohosted by Discover and the Aspen Institute, E. L. DOCTOROW reflected on the creative mind of Albert Einstein. “He was intellectually dauntless and personally very brave,” says Doctorow, who adapted his speech for “Seeing the Unseen,” page 40. “Creativity occurs as a liberation from the self. Which is why, afterward, you may look on what you’ve created with detachment.” Doctorow is a two-time winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for his novels Ragtime and Billy Bathgate. His latest book is Sweet Land Stories.
Sometimes Discover goes to unusual lengths to illustrate an article. For “The Hidden History of Men,” page 32, we commissioned tattoo artist LETICIA VALLE to adorn a model with a detailed map of historic migration patterns revealed by analysis of Y chromosome samples. “It was curious to see all the work that went into creating ...