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Air currents in our atmosphere limit the resolving power of giant telescopes, but computers and artificial stars can sharpen the blur.

The gaze of another person can make us conceive of our body as an object.

All human development, from large cities to small towns, shines light into the night sky.

The pseudoscience phrenology swept the popular imagination, and its practitioners made a mint preying on prejudices, gullibility, and misinformation.

Bertrand Russell shows us how to recognize emotional arguments smuggled into presumed statements of fact.

Spirals, ellipticals, and irregulars are all more common than ring galaxies. At last, we know how these ultra-rare objects are made.

The region of Catalonia has been at odds with greater Spain for over 300 years. The prospect of autonomy remains a distant and fading dream.

One study suggested that the “Methuselah Star” is older than the Universe itself.

Did the Milky Way form by slowly accreting matter or by devouring its neighboring galaxies? At last, we’re uncovering our own history.

Frozen adversity set the stage for an explosion of diversity.

Much like computing technology, the Great Red Spot has been getting smaller and faster over the last few years.

We’re used to scientists telling us about the math and physics behind astronomical events. But what does studying space make us feel?

From fearless quitting to redefined values, “Virtual Natives” are reinventing work culture.

Unlock the full potential of your creativity with holistic detachment. This is the way of the editor.

If you think everyone around you is terrible, the joke may be on you.

Was the terror of Biscayne Bay a man who escaped slavery, an African chieftain, or a marketing ploy that went viral?

Modernism has lasted longer than any art movement since the Renaissance.

The Standard Model of elementary particles has three nearly identical copies of particles: generations. And nobody knows why.

Some biologists believe natural selection produces animals that are just good enough. Dawkins disagrees.

A small percentage of people who consume psychedelics experience strange lingering effects, sometimes years after they took the drug.

When done right, dark humor can help us face inconvenient truths and question stifling social conventions.

Quantum physics is starting to show up in unexpected places. Indeed, it is at work in animals, plants, and our own bodies. 

Whenever someone waxes poetic about terraforming alien worlds, it’s worth taking a moment to consider the ethical implications of the proposal.

Ancient currents seemed to move in concert with a 2.4 million-year dance between the Red Planet and Earth.

Can Detroit get its comeback right?

The world’s highest mountain is also the world’s highest cemetery, with some bodies serving as creepy landmarks for today’s climbers.

“The more I unleash myself from the tethers of domestication, the happier I feel.”

Whether you call it 10 quintillion, 10 million trillion, or 10 billion billion, it’s a 1 followed by 19 zeroes.

Each of our three nearest stars might have an Earth-like planet in orbit around it. Here’s what we’ll learn when we finally observe it.

The use of the letter x as an unknown is a relatively modern convention.