Beyond Einstein: Gravitational Rainbows. Much as a gentle mist can split light waves into beautiful rainbows, dark energy may split gravitational waves into deeply revealing gravitational rainbows. Leading researcher Claudia …

Geckos performing death-defying wall-climbing feats inspired materials scientist and engineer Michael Bartlett to invent adhesive that’s sticky powers are just as strong as this reptile. His Cool Jobs is developing …

Are quantum computers the game-changer they’re described to be, or is the promise of exponential speedup overblown? Join pioneer Seth Lloyd and Brian Greene as they discuss how the fundamental …

This statement is false. Think about it, and it makes your head hurt. If it’s true, it’s false. If it’s false, it’s true. In 1931, Austrian logician Kurt Gödel shocked the worlds of mathematics and philosophy by establishing that such statements are far more than a quirky turn of language: he showed that there are mathematical truths which simply can’t be proven.

Nowadays, the tools for tracing your family tree have advanced far beyond looking back at names in the family Bible or compiling a scrapbook of paper records. Using your genetic information to find long-lost relatives is easier and cheaper than ever before—and scientists are looking to push the technology even further by analyzing our skin and facial features.

Acknowledging the scientists who blazed intellectual trails before him, Isaac Newton wrote: “If I have seen a little further it was by standing on the shoulders of giants.” In this …