The word noun derives from nomen, for “name.” This useful Latin trivia tells us exactly why nouns exist: to name all the things in our world. Many of us first learned about nouns in grade school, or—depending on our age—from [...]

Neal Stephenson’s bestselling novels about science and technology have provoked readers for a generation. From Snow Crash to Seveneves, his fictional worlds pose fascinating thought experiments, such as: What would happen next… if California seceded from the United States? If nanotech and virtual [...]