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There’s no telling whether machine-learned common sense is five years away, or 50.

If we succeed in contacting them, will that seal humanity’s doom? One of the most wondrous questions of all concerns our place in the Universe. After 13.8 billion years of […]

Many contrarians dispute that cosmic inflation occurred. The evidence says otherwise.

The far side of the Moon is incredibly different from the Earth-facing side. 63 years later, we know why the Moon’s faces are not alike.

Many first-hand accounts from the golden age of piracy were grossly embellished, meaning it’s extremely difficult to separate Blackbeard the legend from Edward Thatch the person.

Many galaxies really are ultra-distant, but some are just intrinsically red or dusty. Only with spectroscopy can JWST tell which is which.

Types of therapy are about as different as the people who use it.

Virtual tourism has thus far been a futuristic dream, but a world shaped by Covid-19 may be ready to accept it.

The world isn’t ending! But we are likely at the beginning of a profound transformation.

Companies can identify you from your music preferences, as well as influence and profit from your behavior.

Many atheists think of themselves as intellectually gifted individuals, guiding humanity on the path of reason. Scientific data shows otherwise.

Like Mars today, Venus used to be a sci-fi superstar. Recent discoveries could re-ignite our interest in Earth’s “evil twin.”

Before Herbert came along and wrote Dune, few if any sci-fi stories were set in fully realized universes.

Most cities reeked of death, defecation, and industrial waste. Still, focusing only on stench means turning a blind eye (or nose) to the many other smells that helped shape human history.

It’s a wild idea, but there’s a way to test it. No matter how far we look out in the Universe, there’s always more “Universe” to see. Even at the extreme […]

If the laws of physics are symmetrical as we think they are, then the Big Bang should have created matter and antimatter in the same amount.

Distinguishing fact from fiction can be tough, especially when it comes to people as controversial as Stalin. 

Why should we rely on scientific conclusions even though they cannot be proven? A new essay offers compelling reasons.

Its implications go well beyond the Earth itself, affecting even the future of space travel.

New anthropological research suggests our ancestors enjoyed long slumbers.

Nikolaas Tinbergen’s concept of “supernormal stimulus” explains why humans are attracted to a heightened version of reality.

Cryptocurrencies are digital currencies that use online ledgers, called blockchains, to record transactions. These blockchains are decentralized, meaning the permanent record is not stored in one location but exists on […]

And is anyone protecting children’s data?

An unprecedented number of new satellites threatens the night sky as we know it. Will we act in time to save it?

The Kalam cosmological argument asserts that everything that exists has a cause, and what caused the Universe? It’s got to be God.

This spring, a U.S. and Chinese team announced that it had successfully grown, for the first time, embryos that included both human and monkey cells.

Uncovering the story of Milan Hausner, the Sadská clinic, and LSD psychotherapy behind the Iron Curtain.

In 2006, Pluto was demoted in a very controversial decision. Unless you ignore nearly all of planetary science, it’ll never be one again.

Three cutting-edge techniques – the gene-editing tool CRISPR, fluorescent proteins and optogenetics – were all inspired by nature.

In ancient Greece, the Olympics were never solely about the athletes themselves.