What makes a great book... well... great? Author Salman Rushdie gives us his idea on what separates the classics from the rest of the class.

If a passenger claims a pooch is a service dog, there’s nothing much anyone can demand by way of proof.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent remarks about the future with artificial intelligence prompted alarm from Elon Musk.

Is there life on other planets? Harvard biologist Jonathan B. Losos has an interesting theory that since there are so many Earth-type planets in our galaxy alone that there's a good chance that there's some humanoid looking (at least in the bipedal sense) creatures out there, too. Just like a Hollywood movie.

Go back to school, Agora style. Philosophy can train us to respond to life's problems rather than merely react. One such training camp is coming to Baltimore. 

A new study shows the effectiveness of medical marijuana in preventing the abuse of prescription drugs.

Everything is made of quarks, leptons, photons, and gluons, yet everything comes with a finite, non-zero size. “There’s something about sitting alone in the dark that reminds you how big the […]

Will A.I. take us over, and one day look back on this time period as the dawn of their civilization? Richard Dawkins posits an interesting idea, or at the very least a premise to a good science-fiction novel.

The list of issues reported by Transport for London is shocking.   

Sen. John McCain announced he'll be voting against GOP legislation that would repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Spontaneous talk on surprise topics. Writer Kurt Andersen on passionate kookiness as the American Way.

If not for the indeterminate nature of matter, the Sun would never be able to shine. “The bedrock nature of space and time and the unification of cosmos and quantum are […]

Why do first-world ailments get cured faster than global health crises? Because Big Pharma doesn’t serve sick people, it serves rich people—let's change that.

There’s a special reason these generally solo cephalopods have decided to cohabitate.   

Scientists develop the first robots capable of merging into a single-minded unit.

It isn’t just a theory; it’s the best way we have to make sense of everything that exists. “The physicist is like someone who’s watching people playing chess and, after watching […]

NASA discovers a surprisingly dark planet about 1,400 light years away.

Rabbi Darren Levine explains how the psychology of happiness intersects with religious practice.

Hundreds of millions globally could be impacted in a significant way.  

Researchers are looking for, and finding, effective methods for dealing with pain that don't require drugs.