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The Youngest Winner of the Booker Prize Also Wrote the Longest Book

Eleanor Catton is 28, and her book The Luminaries is over 800 pages long

Vote for the Next Inductees Into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

So far, Nirvana is winning the fan vote with 15 percent, followed closely by Kiss at 14.33 percent

Hurricane Phailin approaching India last night

Hurricane Phailin Is As Strong as Katrina, Twice as Wide as Sandy And About to Devastate India

India is bracing for what is potentially the strongest hurricane they’ve ever seen

Your Cheat Sheet to the 2013 Nobel Prizes

Love them or hate them, here we provide you with the sound bytes you’ll need to at least discuss them

The demographics of Nobel laureates

What Makes a Nobel Laureate? The Demographic Keys to Success

It helps to be an older man from Europe

Tom Clancy at a book signing at Boston College.

Espionage Thriller Author Tom Clancy Dies

Clancy authored more than 20 books and his final novel, Command Authority, is scheduled for release on December 3

Funding Gaps Have Only Forced Government Shutdowns Since the 1980s

Funding gaps didn’t always bring a shut down of the federal government

Melting Greenland glaciers will have an effect on the global climate by affecting the strength of ocean circulation patterns. Exactly how much of an effect they’ll have is stlll up in the air.

We Know Humans Are Causing Global Warming; Here Are Some Things We’re Less Sure About

Here, gleaned from the IPCC’s briefing, are some of the things we still don’t know much about

A map showing the sea floor off the coast of Pakistan*

A Massive Earthquake in Pakistan Just Forced an Island to Climb Out of the Sea

In the wake of a massive earthquake in Pakistan this morning, a new island has emerged from the Arabian Sea

“Terrorist attacks at shopping centers, 1998 – 2005”

Kenya in Context: Malls Around the World That Terrorists Have Attacked

Lots of people, lots of exits, lots of packages—a few of the reasons why shopping malls are targeted

Supporters of former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi celebrate his 2012 election.

The Muslim Brotherhood’s Short History as an Officially Recognized Political Party Is Over

Amidst an ongoing military crackdown, Egypt bans the Muslim Brotherhood

The AR-15 Seems To Be the Weapon of Chioce in Random Acts of Violence

Of the 67 mass shootings in the US over the past three decades, more than three-quarters of the 143 guns used were obtained legally

A totally irrelevant photo of steam

North Korea May Have Just Restarted its Nuclear Program

Steam coming from a mothballed plutonium plant could mean North Korea is resuming its weapons program

It Might Be Hard to Collect Syria’s Chemical Weapons, But Neutralizing Them Isn’t That Complicated

Rounding up and securing all of Assad’s chemical weapons will no doubt be challenging, but the actual act of destroying them isn’t quite so difficult

Obama Isn’t the First Peace Prize Laureate to Support a War

This isn’t the first time a Peace Prize winner has pushed for war

Here’s How Researchers Determined a Long-Lost Van Gogh Painting Is an Original

Two years of intense research were required to give the painting the final stamp of approval

A woman operates an early decryption machine for the NSA’s progenitor

How the NSA Stopped Trying to Prevent the Spread of Encryption And Decided to Just Break It Instead

The NSA spent decades trying to stop the spread of encryption technology

The potential viewing area for tonight’s 11:27 pm launch from Virginia

Hey, Eastern Seaboard! Look Up, You’re About to See a Rocket Launch

A new orbiter is going to the Moon, and it’s launching from Virginia

“Jews praying on Jewish New Year”

See How New Yorkers Celebrated Rosh Hashanah a Century Ago

Photographs from the early 1900s show Rosh Hashanah in New York

Japan’s Planning to Build an “Ice Wall” Around Fukushima

The Japanese government has stepped in and announced that it will invest $500 million in the project

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