NARVAL

Article archive

Every published NARVAL article in one place.

Six red dots around a black hole in an editorial ink technique

Little red dots

Webb saw the early growth of black holes - and a new class of objects that does not yet add up to one explanation.

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Titan was recognized as the most comfortable place to live. The main thing is not to sneeze

Published: August 13, 2026

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Ink illustration: Quake ogre with grenade launcher and chainsaw on a stone platform

30 years of Quake: a game that continues to be built

On June 22, 1996, a shareware version was released Quake . This was the part of the game that was allowed to be copied and passed on: the early Internet was slow, but school corridors, floppy disks and friends with a...

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Still from the Pantheon series: Logorhythms presentation with a digital personality on a huge screen

Candles in front of the server

From the Strugatskys’ “percentage of similarity” to Pantheon and back: why the conversation about digital immortality suddenly turned out to be a conversation about a switch.

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Ink illustration: three hands reach for a common grocery basket against the backdrop of graphically played flags of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania

Three countries, three character, one grocery set?

In a culinary dispute, things start out badly: someone puts bread, fish and potatoes on the table, and then declares that this is “a typical cuisine of the country.” The neighbor immediately remembers his...

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Ink illustration: Marina in front of the museum building on Vanemuise street in Tartu

Porcupine shoots first

At the beginning of the 2000s, I worked for some time as a Russian-speaking guide at the Zoological Museum of the University of Tartu. The word “worked” here may sound too thorough. It seems that I was still studying...

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Ink illustration: a man stands in front of a huge spaceship in a hangar

Star Citizen: long-term construction of long-term construction and its phenomenon

Star Citizen is a multiplayer space simulator for computers. The authors want to build a permanent universe where the player does not select a mission from a menu, but lives inside his own space life: he wakes up in...

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An angry witcher with black eyes cuts a monster

At least the monster isn't lying

July 30, 2026

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Ink illustration: Case walks along the night embankment of Chiba past a cheap clinic

"Neuromancer" waited for the screen

On January 22, 2027, Apple TV will release the first two episodes of Neuromancer, a ten-episode adaptation of William Gibson's novel. The remaining episodes will be released once a week until March 19. Case is played...

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Ink illustration: an empty mayor's chair being passed around like a sports challenge trophy

Narva national sport: change the mayor

Every self-respecting city has a national sport. In Otepää they go skiing, in Pärnu they look forward to summer, in Tartu they know how to do it and patiently explain it to the rest of the country. The government is...

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Pakendikeskus advertisement with industrial waste press

The joke must know what it's selling

After advertising that requires explanation, it is useful to look at advertising that goes without explanation. It can also contain provocation, impudence and a joke on the edge. The difference is visible in what...

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Original Rannarootsi advertising layout: grill on the beach, smoke on the horizon and product packaging

Advertising that fails to explain itself

Advertising has an unpleasant property: it comes into the world without its author. On the phone screen, at a bus stop, in a neighbor’s chat feed, she doesn’t have time to unfold the presentation, show a slide with...

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