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Last year was the hottest on record for every place in the world, except two: a small part of Antarctica and the Northeast United States. 

With Hubble, Spitzer and Chandra combined, we get a view like no other. “But I see it differently now. There has to be a middle. Without it, nothing can truly […]

Frozen water at the poles of the moon represents a potential cash cow for firms that want to capitalize on the emerging private space industry.

One in five students will experience ‘exploding head syndrome,’ a disruptive disorder caused by the auditory neurons firing at once, waking sleepers with a loud bang.

Researchers have been experimenting with oxytocin to find it has a range of beneficial effects — one of the most recent being in calorie control.

No one likes it when resources are rationed, but Californians may force the state or federal government’s hand if they don’t voluntarily cut their water usage.

The standard line against painter John Singer Sargent goes like this: a very good painter of incredible technique, but little substance who flattered the rich and famous with decadently beautiful portraiture — a Victorian Andrea del Sarto of sorts whose reach rarely exceeded his considerable artistic grasp. A new exhibition of Sargent’s work and the accompanying catalogues argue that he was much more than a painter of pretty faces. Instead, the exhibition Sargent: Portraits of Artists and Friends and catalogues challenge us to see Sargent’s omnivorous mind, which swallowed up nascent modernist movements not just in painting, but also in literature, music, and theater. Sargent the omnivore’s dilemma thus lies in being too many things at once and tasking us to multitask with him.

Behind every behavior there are four potential explanations: It’s been done to solve a tangible and practical problem. It’s a habit (and thus an automatic response to a cue). It’s […]

There’s a chance the Earth will turn green, and even though there’s no such thing as a green star, perhaps someday, the Sun will, too. “‘You are a different kind […]

The best-kept secret in music festivals and the six great new bands I found. “Life is a festival only to the wise.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson Every weekend, I try to […]

How “faith” in the Universe destroyed two brilliant men of genius. “I don’t like it, and I’m sorry I ever had anything to do with it.” –Schrödinger The idea that […]

Jeremy England explains how simple physical laws make complex life more likely than not. In other words, it would be more surprising to find no life in the universe than a place like Earth.

Fitness enthusiasts often spend extra for energy drinks, packed with electrolytes and sugar, to recover after their workout. But a new study reveals that gym-goers should be bringing milk to help replenish their bodies.

Researchers were interested to know whether grassy areas, playgrounds or asphalt lots influenced children’s activity levels.

As dark energy takes over and distant galaxies accelerate, what are we losing, and what does that mean? “What is that feeling when you’re driving away from people and they […]

The heralded economist and Harvard president emeritus explains why the price of oil is dropping in North America. He also discusses how American energy independence can’t be achieved just by reducing reliance on foreign oil.

Websites aren’t just bits of information floating in nothingness until appearing on a computer screen. They can have significant environmental impacts that ought not go unchecked.

An in-depth look at the fine line between bad writing and “bullshitting” in psychology.

Harsh criticism of Chipotle’s marketing ploy to eliminate some genetically modified ingredients is part of a growing movement to stand up to advocates on many issues who promote fear that flies in the face of the evidence.

The Universe was 99.999999% Hydrogen and Helium after the Big Bang. Billions of years later, there’s a new contender in town. “When it comes to atoms, language can be used […]

For destruction, ice is also great, and will suffice. “Some say the world will end in fire,Some say in ice.From what I’ve tasted of desireI hold with those who favor […]

The internet may be costing the economy dearly, and not just because we’re distracted by Facebook when we should be doing our job.

How new developments in measuring the highest-energy particles and earliest signals from the Universe are teaching us what all this is. Big questions in the field of Cosmology are often […]

Radiation gets stretched to longer and longer wavelengths as space itself expands, but what happens to matter? “The trees that are slow to grow bear the best fruit.” –Molière It’s […]

Instead of returning anger with anger, Robert Thurman advocates the practice of lovingkindness, a translation of the Pali word mettā that is found in the original Buddhist texts.

It’s subtle and pernicious as hell how this happens. How we transform something that’s supposed to make us more open and balanced into a shiny new prison of things, jargon, and obligations.

The US Academies of Science, Engineering, Medicine, and National Research moved to abandon aggressive geoengineering techniques in a new report.

Getting hired is only the first step. Achieving lasting success in your new position requires a lot of energy and effort in the first few weeks.

Understanding corruption — how it arises and why some countries are more corrupt than others — has always been difficult for sociologists.

John Lennon liked to joke that Yoko Ono was “the world’s most famous unknown artist.” Before she infamously “broke up the Beatles” (but not really), Ono built an internationally recognized career as an artist in the developing fields of Conceptual art, experimental film, and performance art. Unfairly famous then and now for all the wrong reasons, Ono’s long fought in her own humorously sly way for recognition, beginning with her self-staged 1971 “show” Museum of Modern (F)art, a performance piece in which she dreamed of a one-woman exhibition of her work at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Now, more than 40 years later, the MoMA makes that dream come true with the exhibition Yoko Ono: One Woman Show, 1960–1971. Better late than never, this exhibition of the pre-Lennon and early-Lennon Ono establishes her not just as the world’s most famous unknown artist, but the most unfairly unknown one, too.