News
I Caught a Glimpse of the New World Order in Greenland
It’s hard to avoid America these days in Greenland. In downtown Nuuk, the capital, an electronic news ticker streams near-constant updates on the Trump administration’s fixation on acquiring this Danish territory. Even before retaking office in …
‘Andor’ Is Not the Resistance You’re Looking For
“Star Wars” has always been political. When the main thrust of the narrative is about rebels rising up against empire, that’s simply hard to avoid. “Andor,” the Disney+ streaming series that premiered in 2022, wears its politics openly: The show is …
Pope Francis’ Gay Muddle
“Who am I to judge?” Pope Francis uttered those words in July 2013, just four and a half months into his papacy, when he was asked about gay priests, and the remark was greeted by some observers as a revelation and revolution. At long last, the Roman …
Trump’s Tariffs Will Pay Off, for China
No part of the world will be hit harder by President Trump’s barrage of “reciprocal” tariffs than the Asia-Pacific region. Despite his 90-day pause in imposing them, some of Mr. Trump’s steepest tariff rates still hang over developing economies such …
National Science Foundation Terminates Hundreds of Active Research Awards
The agency targeted grants focused on diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as research on misinformation.
Hidden Above a Trap Door, 17th-Century Frescoes Come to Light
Imagine mounting a scaffold in the atrium of a historic Roman estate. You spy a small trap door in the vaulted ceiling; on inspection the hatch opens into a cavity between the new ceiling and an older one. In the older ceiling is a second trap door …
It’s Springtime on Polaris-9b, and the Exoflowers Are Blooming
Imagine setting out for a springtime stroll. Not here on Earth but on some distant planet — call it Novathis-458b — orbiting a distant star. Even light-years from home, you recognize some familiar pleasures: The sun (albeit a different sun) is …
Astronomers Detect a Possible Signature of Life on a Distant Planet
Further studies are needed to determine whether K2-18b, which orbits a star 120 light-years away, is inhabited, or even habitable.
How to Evade Taxes in Ancient Rome? A 1,900-Year-Old Papyrus Offers a Guide.
It may not have been the tax-evasion trial of the century — the second century, that is — but it was of such gravity that the defendants faced charges of forgery, fiscal fraud and the sham sale of slaves. Tax dodging is as old as taxation itself, but …
Wildfire Burns in 3,200 Acres of New Jersey Forest Area
The fire in the Pine Barrens led to the evacuation of 3,000 residents and the shutdown of a stretch of the Garden State Parkway.