To what degree are you allowed the privacy to grieve the loss of a family member? Christos Catsouras found out in October 2006. His 18-year-old daughter, Nikki, died after slamming […]

Seventy-two years ago, a pair of real-life Rosies assemble a bomber at the Douglas Aircraft Company in Long Beach, Calif.

An alarmingly high number of young people in urban areas have been victims of drug assault. Unfortunately, adequate statistics and records of incidents are neither being sought nor kept.

And how, in the end, they help us gain the resolution of a space-based telescope without leaving the ground! Image credit: Y. Beletsky/ESO, via http://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1036a/. “But certainly the laser proved […]

Other particles — electrons, neutrinos, photons and more — can exist on their own. But quarks never will. Here’s why. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons user Maschen under C.C.-1.0. “In physics, you don’t have to […]

Investigative journalist Eric Schlosser describes the terrifyingly close calls we've had with nuclear weapons, and the odds that a disaster would result in global catastrophe.

There’s no way to live in this world and avoid politics.  It’s in our homes, schools, workplaces and just about anywhere else we turn.  While there’s no shortage of people […]

A recent marriage study out of Emory University revealed some notable facts about wedding spending. For example, women whose engagement rings cost more than $20,000 are 3.5 more likely to get divorced than brides with more modest rocks.

Despite knuckle-gripping tension and mass nuclear proliferation during the Cold War, not a single detonation has caused mass civilian casualties since 1945. According to investigative journalist Eric Schlosser, such good fortune is nothing more than blind luck.

The average Facebook user now has about 338 friends, though the median number is quite a bit lower: 200. This means that while half of all Facebook users have 200 […]

In product design and life, the simplest explanation is usually the correct one. All too often, we contrive complex, Rube Goldberg-like reasons for why things are or are not working. […]

It is in our nature to need stories. We naturally think in story-logic. They’re a kind of people-physics. They’re biologically active, configuring how we feel in ways essential for our survival. […]

Life expectancy has hit a new high in the United States: 76.4 for men, 81.4 for women. But it's important to remember that certain demographics have widely varying expectancies due to several major variables. 

The discovery of the brain's "GPS," which netted three scientists the Nobel Prize for Medicine, will allow researchers to study the process by which dementia steals control of the body from the afflicted.

“If you love someone,” pop star Stingsang years ago, “set them free.” Sometimes the first rule of love is forgetting all the rules that constrain the object of one’s affection, […]

It’s been 78 days since my last blog post. It’s shameful to admit, but I wasn’t sure how else to break the silence.   Did I get lost on my […]

If you're hoping to wipe low-income fish from your dating pool, Luxy may be the app for you. Swipe right for a peek into his or her Swiss Bank Account.

There are two reasons why President Grímsson considers the Arctic the next major environmental, political, and economic playing field: climate change and the region's untapped natural resources.  

It might not sound impressive, but the physics behind it — and the power of its applications — are literally world-changing. Image credit: Orphek LEDs, via http://orphek.com/about/aquarium-led-lighting/. “Everyone must leave something behind when he […]

Theoretical physicist Alan Lightman suggests that our universe is one of many possible variations, leaving physicists at a cosmological dead end. Lightman's latest book is The Accidental Universe: The World […]