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James Rouse talks about the future of the American city at one of his many speaking engagements

James W. Rouse’s Legacy of Better Living Through Design

There are still lessons to be learned from the visionary businessman who built a city

Google's new tool allows users to explore different geographic points, like the Marina Sands hotel in Singapore, over time.

Tech Watch

With Google Maps, It’s Now Possible To Travel Through Time

We can all be Marty McFly thanks to a new tool in Google Street View that offers seven years of views from street corners around the globe

Galileo Demonstrating Telescope

Art Meets Science

Was Shakespeare Aware of the Scientific Discoveries of His Time?

For his new book, Dan Falk followed a group of scholars who argue, unlike most, that the playwright was up to speed with the latest astronomy

The Honda smart home's energy efficient interior features a passive heating and cooling design and an LED lighting system that adapts to the body's natural circadian rhythm.

Tech Watch

Checking The Claim: A House That Produces More Energy Than It Consumes

Forget carbon-neutral—Honda and the University of California have built a house that claims to give energy back

Patrick Stewart on His Craft, 21st-Century Science and Robot Ethics

The actor whose leading roles in “Star Trek” and X-Men have taken him into the far future, reflects on where present-day society is headed

This Reversible Painting Flips Your Expectations of Art

A painter looks at her canvas from a new perspective

How America’s Leading Science Fiction Authors Are Shaping Your Future

The literary genre isn’t meant to predict the future, but implausible ideas that fire inventors’ imaginations often, amazingly, come true

Why Do We Love R2-D2 and Not C-3PO?

With its stubby cylindrical body and playful whistles and beeps, the lovable Star Wars’ robot R2-D2 is just the right mix of man and machine

In Portrait of Nan, Wood highlighted his sister’s femininity.

Meet Grant Wood’s Sister, the Woman Made Famous by “American Gothic”

The painter gave his sibling Nan a makeover in his alluring portrait of her

A neurosurgeon’s view during a brain operation: The head is held in place and covered with an adhesive drape containing iodine, which prevents infections and explains the orange tint.

Inside the Science of an Amazing New Surgery Called Deep Brain Stimulation

The most futuristic medical treatment ever imagined is now a reality

Ozcan (in his UCLA lab) started a company, Holomic, to market microscope-outfitted smartphones, which he calls “a telemedicine tool” for improving health care in the developing world.

Inside the Technology That Can Turn Your Smartphone into a Personal Doctor

The fantastic tricorder device that “Bones” used to scan aliens on “Star Trek” is nearly at hand—in your cellphone

Crawling bare ivy on wall.

How to Bring a Devastated Forest Back to Life

Humans have damaged the world’s forests, but not irreparably

When a sodium-filled model of the Earth’s outer core spins at full speed, it could generate a dynamo.

What Will Happen When the Earth’s Magnetic Field Begins to Reverse?

On the University of Maryland campus, a giant whirligig tries to predict the planet’s next big flip

An Iraq war veteran with PTSD has trouble with motivation.

Will Scientists Soon be Able to Erase Our Most Traumatic Memories?

PTSD treatments could soon extend beyond therapy

Less than a mile from the South Pole, the Dark Sector Lab’s Bicep2 telescope (at left) searches for signs of inflation.

Listening to the Big Bang

Just-reported ripples in space may open a window on the very beginning of the universe

Phoenix glows even after 10 p.m. one April night in this image made with a camera sensitive to infrared light, which is generated by heat and invisible to the naked eye. Researchers call the city an “urban heat island.”

The Reality of a Hotter World is Already Here

As global warming makes sizzling temperatures more common, will human beings be able to keep their cool? New research suggests not

Life in the Cosmos

Sara Seager’s Tenacious Drive to Discover Another Earth

Planetary scientist Sara Seager has turned tragedy into tenacity in her search for new Earths among the stars

Preparing for the Next Step in Manned Spaceflight

NASA prepares to send humans into deep space

How Do Rockets Ignite Their Engines in Space Without Oxygen and More Questions From Our Readers

You asked, we answered

A woman depositing a plastic bottle in a recycling bin in Worcestershire, UK.

Recycling: You May Be Doing It Wrong

As more things are able to be recycled, the world of recycling grows ever more complicated

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