Once you get past all of the screaming teenagers in this video, you will actually hear some inspiring words from Ashton Kutcher. That's right.

The Magellanic Stream, which extends almost halfway around the Milky Way, is only detectable at radio wavelengths, and made visible in the wonderful composite image above.

Comet Shoemaker--Levy 9 was not a giant comet, but if you did the math - which astronomers did at the time - you would know just what a catastrophic impact it would have.  

How culpable is the U.S.? Should aid be cut off?

Thought experiment: can we communicate across species in a way that might facilitate a greater deeper relationship between us? Experimental philosopher Jonathon Keats gave it a shot.

Facing up to 90 years of jail time for leaking classified documents, Bradley Manning apologized during the sentencing phase of his trial. 

Do you know what a “tiger mom” is? Does the phrase “the tipping point” immediately bring Malcolm Gladwell to mind? “Idea entrepreneurs,” argues John Butman, are a new and influential breed, driven primarily by passion for an idea and the desire to spread it.

"Not only can small groups of people change the world, it's the only thing that ever has."

According to a study published in the Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, a disproportionate number of family killings happened in the month of August, and more than half on weekends.

This video, commissioned by WWF Germany, will make you think twice about throwing away an apple. 

You may not make it to space in this life, but your ashes could be sent there after you die. 

Would an astronaut who falls into a black hole be "stretched like spaghetti" or flash-fried by a firewall of energy? The answer to this question has great significance.   

According to a meta-analysis published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Review, there is a "reliable negative relation between intelligence and religiosity" in 53 out of 63 studies.

At NASA the waste management engineers are incredibly important to the entire mission, says Mary Roach.

Elon Musk released the conceptual design for his Hyperloop passenger transport capsule.

At Less Wrong, Eliezer Yudkowsky challenges the common assumption that automation is the cause of long-term unemployment. 

According to NASA estimates, up to 60 meteors per hour might be seen at the peak of the Perseid meteor shower on August 12. 

In a previous post, we set American Walt Whitman against Frenchman Arthur Rimbaud. Based on your feedback, Rimbaud won the first set narrowly. So now on to set #2: war.

Who will win this death match?

Bioethicist Paul Root Wolpe argues that the Singularity envisioned by Ray Kurzweil isn't quite right.