It’s that time of year again: tax-filing season. Millions of Americans are probably downloading the latest version of their tax preparation software as we speak or picking it up at their local software store.

Approximately 52 million taxpayers filed their 2014 tax returns on their home computers using commercially produced tax preparation...

“American Idol” was “born” exactly nine months after 9/11. The timing was significant, because since its premiere on June 11, 2002, the show has become an integral part of the country’s coping strategy – a kind of guidebook for our difficult entry into the 21st century.

By carefully curating a distinctly American...

Climate change is a major public health threat, already making existing problems like asthma, exposure to extreme heat, food poisoning, and infectious disease more severe, and posing new risks from climate change-related disasters, including death or injury.

Those were the alarming conclusions of a new scientific assessment report released by the...

Humans have played a key role in moving species to new locations, resulting in an exponential spread of species over the last century. Many of these nonnative species never become invasive – that is, damaging – and a few may even have positive effects on ecology or human economy. However, many, such as Asian carp in North American...

In March, three bombings in Brussels claimed 32 lives and injured more than 300. The Islamic State, or ISIS, claimed responsibility for the attacks.

These events are disturbingly similar to the November 2015 terror attacks in Paris that claimed 130 lives – and for which ISIS also claimed responsibility.

The attacks added a sense of urgency to c...

“Just thinking about it makes me break out into hives” reported one man in his 60’s. A woman in her 30’s said she does everything she can to avoid it, including pretending she doesn’t speak English. A woman in her 20’s said she’ll do an intensive...

Imagine boarding a plane. Economy class. There’s a kid behind you kicking the seat. You put on headphones and try to tune out the world. Immediately after takeoff, you feel a thud and hear an explosion over the sound of your music. The plane lurches. You look out...

Not long ago, most Americans could safely ignore congressional deliberations about Federal Aviation Administration authority, leaving the details to industry experts and lobbyists. But this time, we may need to fasten our seatbelts and actually read the card in the seat pocket.

A bill under...

If you put water on the stove and heat it up, it will at first just get hotter and hotter. You may then conclude that heating water results only in hotter water. But at some point everything changes – the water starts to boil, turning from hot liquid into steam. Physicists...

Throughout the summer before my daughter left for college, I repeatedly warned her: never put a glass down at a party; use the buddy system when going to parties; and never go upstairs at a fraternity party.

Instead, what I should have told her is: the place you are most likely to...