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To avoid the German air force bombing Paris, the French built a fake version of their capital

Project Icarus is a five-year study into the possibility of sending a unmanned ship to another star. The project recently outlined expected scientific benefits, including the search for life. 

In the continuing flap over the Obama administration’s decision to require Catholic institutions to provide birth control under the new health care law, both sides have failed to come to grips with the complexities of religious liberty.    

Ultimately, space could collapse back in on itself, destroying all stars and galaxies in existence, or it could expand into essentially an endless void.

Law Think examines timely and timeless legal and human rights issues facing the UK and the world.  Lord Hewart CJ once stated, “…justice should not only be done, but should manifestly […]

The prototype of a hydrogen fuel cell tram has been built in Spain. The emission-free tram can carry 20-30 passengers at up to 20 kmh and should enter service next year.

A new book argues “we and our children may be the most significant generations of humans that have yet lived,” which means we carry a far greater burden of responsibility than any previous generation.

Will the conflict between intellectual property and the value of sharing knowledge be resolved?  

As the times go, so goes Van Gogh. Toiling in relative obscurity during his life, known by fellow painters but not by the public at large, Vincent Van Gogh’s greatest […]

The maps discussed on this blog are rarely of any hard, practical use. This one does have real-world relevance – especially if you’re a globetrotting, It’s-Tuesday-so-this-must-be-Belarus kind of traveller. Living […]

Ever since scientists in Germany announced last year the ability to create a small-scale cloak of invisibility for a 3D object the size of a human hair, there has been […]

Just when you think a contemporary art megastar such as Damien Hirst has done his worst to make a mockery of the modern art world, he finds a new weapon […]

“We are children when we talk about the cosmic scale of energies throughout the entire universe,” says theoretical physicist Michio Kaku. But with a little (okay, a lot) of human ingenuity, we may one day have the ability to harness the energy of the stars.

Using the powerful Herschel Space Telescope, scientists have found evidence that the water in Earth’s oceans could have been delivered by comets rather than asteroids. 

Obamacare is going to get its day in the Supreme Court. The court granted certiorari in—literally, informed the lower courts that it would hear—three cases challenging the Affordable Care Act […]

Education isn’t magic. It is the wisdom wrung from failure. People learn how to get it right by getting it wrong again and again. But why do some people learn faster than others?

          Most Americans know that talking on the cell phone while they’re driving is dangerous. And two thirds of Americans say they do it anyway. So it’s not surprising that […]

The United States is following its peer nations in Western Europe and is projected to become a majority unmarried and “post-marriage” nation within the decade, according to research released this […]

News that Helen Frankenthalerdied yesterday at the age of 83 after a long illness is making a lot of people recall just how important a figure the self-described “saddle-shoed girl […]

This trans-African colony could have rivalled Brazil for dominance of the Portuguese-speaking world.

A recently published study has shed light on the memory-altering effects of one of the most widely used hormone-regulating drugs in the world: the birth control pill.  

Scientists say our galaxy would have burned out long ago if it depended exclusively on its own resources to generate new stars. So what keeps the lights on across the universe?

–Guest post by Andrea Garvue, American University graduate student. In 2004, Rescue Me on the FX Network provided the United States with its first taste of the entertainment industry’s take […]

In Marriage Confidential I talk about “workhorse wives” with Tom Sawyer husbands. In these marriages, the husband is the dream-chaser and the wife is the exhausted breadwinner who underwrites his […]

Despite a dwindling budget, N.A.S.A. is planning ahead for missions to the moon, an asteroid or Mars by engineering a habitat suitable for astronauts on long-distance missions.

By changing how light refracts off on object, new cloaking materials can hide tiny microphones placed on a wall—and they will do the job at all visible wavelengths.

Threats and outrage can no more shut up ideas than a cage made of smoke. It’s time we stop using violent tactics, as ways to voice our disagreements. In case […]

What should scare us the most is the danger that arises when we get risk wrong, when we’re more afraid than the evidence says we need to be, or not as afraid as the evidence says we ought to be.

Severe storms will become the new normal. Ensuring our cities have ubiquitous Wi-Fi, GPS, smart transit, and smart grids would be a smart way to make them more resilient.

With a network of dashboard-mounted phones that can collect data on traffic lights and tell drivers how to avoid inefficient stopping and starting, the nation can save on time and fuel.