James Gleick ponders the paradox in information theory that since information is based on surprise, it is also chaotic and in many cases devoid of meaning.

It’s the first Virgo Cluster galaxy to rise over the horizon in the Northern Hemisphere, and you can find it tonight! “The image is more than an idea. It is a […]

If you were taught it was Christopher Columbus, you aren’t alone. But just how much we knew thousands of years ago may surprise you! “When Columbus lived, people thought that the […]

BEIJING - Western journalists (and bloggers) understandably often take deep satisfaction from exposing the corruption, megalomania, and banalities of authoritarian regimes -preferably great powers like China and Russia. But beware […]

Although we live in an information age, we don’t really know what information even means.

A newly released video captures Felix Baumgartner's world record-setting free fall back to Earth from the edge of space, from his perspective. 

"I don't like people who have never fallen or stumbled. Their virtue is lifeless and it isn't of much value. Life hasn't revealed its beauty to them." - Boris Pasternak (born on this date in 1890)

Two amazing sights of the night sky captured together! “It is like writing history with lightning and my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.” -Woodrow Wilson […]

Her is quite the meticulous and creepily seductive criticism of our techno-orientation toward transhumanism.  It is the dystopian film of our time, a haunting glimpse at the near future. The transhumanist theory is […]

Is it my cranky imagination or does Valentine’s Day become more of a big deal every year? All of the second-tier holidays seem to have gotten elevated in the last […]

There’s something deeply and profoundly philosophical about the gradually decline of the Europeans: It’s going on for over a century now. MOST observers will have heard about the latest US […]

The highlights of the greatest Winter Constellation of them all. “I discerned huge Orion, driving wild beasts together over the field of asphodel, the very ones that he once had killed […]

A friend of mine recently posted a link to one of the hilarious articles detailing the bone-headed Olympic Games preparations in Sochi and asked, tongue not really in cheek, "Did no […]

BEIJING AND TOKYO - The Chunjie celebrations have come to an end this week and, starting from next Monday, we can expect Beijing's political retaliations against Tokyo and Manila for […]

Ultimately, your lifetime is a sum of actions, experiences and how you spent your time. How would you wish to be remembered?

The future of humanity depends on it. “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach […]

A spellbinding case of justified paranoia is documented this week in the New Yorker. Researcher Tyrone Hayes upset the manufacturer of the second most popular herbicide in the US (since […]

Not many art stories make the cover of both TIME and Newsweek in the same week, but the revelation of Andrew Wyeth’s infamous “Helga Paintings” in 1986 caused a news […]

Critics contend that multiple-choice tests only encourage two things: rote memorization and hand-eye coordination.

Michael Sandel: I think the reason we have such an impoverished public debate is that we are too reluctant to take on hard controversial, but important moral questions that really go to the heart of the question of what kind of society do we want to live in.