When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. The Wikimedia Foundation revealed the most popular Wikipedia pages of 2025. American politics topped the list. Yesterday, the Wikimedia Foundation revealed the most read Wikipedia articles of 2025 . American politics dominated the top of the list, with the late political activist Charlie Kirk taking the top (#1) spot.

THIS ARTICLE IS republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Severance, which imagines a world where a person's work and personal lives are surgically separated, returns Friday for its long-awaited second season. While the concept of this gripping piece of science fiction is far-fetched, it touches on a question neuroscience has been trying to answer for decades: Can a person's mind really be split in two? Remarkably, "split-brain" patients have existed since the 1940s. To control epilepsy symptoms, these patients underwent a surgery to separate the left and right hemispheres.

Slowly but surely Apple TV is finding its feet. The streaming service, which at launch we called "odd, angsty, and horny as hell," has evolved into a diverse library of dramas, documentaries, and comedies. It's also fairly cheap compared to services like Netflix--and Apple often throws in three free months when you buy a new iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple TV. Curious but don't know where to get started? Below are our picks for the best shows on the service.

If you need a break from the hustle and cheer of the holidays, there's nothing better than the ultimate escapist genre: sci-fi. This year has been a good one for those who like their entertainment off-planet or otherwise removed from our reality. We finally got a Predator sequel that isn't silly; the author of Station Eleven released her highly anticipated new book; Star Wars proved it's ready to grow up; and the production company A24 brought us one of the most exhilarating movies in years. There are even a number of sci-fi podcasts that can keep you company while you wrap presents or decorate your home with tinsel and lights. Here are some of the best sci-fi movies, books and shows as of late that you can binge over the holidays.

The Apple TV series Severance presents a world in which office workers have their minds split into two personalities--one who only remembers what happens at work and one who only remembers what happens outside of it. Science fiction author John Kessel loves the show's inventive premise. "After we watched the first episode, I said to my wife, 'This is one of the smartest shows I've seen in a long time,'" Kessel says in Episode 509 of the Geek's Guide to the Galaxy podcast. "I rank it--at least through this first season--as highly as I do things like Breaking Bad. I really think it's classic."

There is a difference between knowledge and understanding. Knowledge typically comes down to knowing facts while understanding is the application of knowledge to the mastery of systems. You can know a lot while understanding very little. Just as an example, IBM's Watson artificial intelligence system that defeated the TV Jeopardy champs a few years ago knew all there was to know about Jeopardy questions but didn't really understand anything. Ask Watson to apply to removing your appendix its knowledge of hundreds of medical questions and you'd be disappointed and probably dead.