On the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci’s death, Italian academic Francesco Caglioti’s recent claim that a sculpture held at a London museum bears close similarities with the work of the Renaissance genius has opened up a fresh discussion.

The Victoria and Albert...

The news broke that a railroad car, loaded with pure sodium, had just derailed and was spilling its contents. A television reporter called me for an explanation of why firefighters were not allowed to use water on the flames bursting from the mangled car. While on the air I...

For the first time in 217 years, a Japanese emperor will cede his place on the imperial throne.

On April 30, Japan’s ailing 85-year-old Emperor Akihito will abdicate and be replaced the following day by his 59-year-old son, Crown Prince Naruhito.

Naruhito and his wife, Crown Princess Masako, are a modern couple. Both have studied overseas...

A general election in India, the world’s most populous democracy, seems a theoretical impossibility. Collecting the votes of nearly a billion people across a staggeringly diverse subcontinent has for more than half a century faced challenges of logist...

For the first time in decades, the 2020 census might include a question asking whether or not each counted person is a citizen.

When Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross directed that the 2020 census include that question, he claimed that it was necessary to...

Por primera vez en la historia se espera que los votantes hispanos sean el grupo minoritario más grande en el electorado del año 2020, según el Centro de Investigación Pew.

Con su reelección en la mira, no es sorprendente que el presidente Donald...

What if Google tried to rename your neighborhood?

That happened to some Californians in spring 2018, when Google Maps changed the moniker of three San Francisco neighborhoods – Rincon Hill, South Beach and South Market – to “East Cut.”

Given the extensive reach...

On April 15, people around the world watched in horror as a voracious fire consumed the medieval wooden roof of Paris’s Notre Dame cathedral and felled its spire.

The following day brought some measure of relief:...

“If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President of the United States did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state....

U.S. technology giant Microsoft has teamed up with a Chinese military university to develop artificial intelligence systems that could potentially enhance government surveillance and censorship capabilities. Two U.S. senators publicly condemned the partnership, but what the National Defense Technology University of China wants from Microsoft...