This week (and probably next) I want to talk a bit more Tolkien, but in a somewhat different vein from normal. Rather than discussing the historicity of Tolkien's world or adaptations of it, I want to take a moment to discuss some of the themes of Tolkien's work, which express themselves in the metaphysical architecture…

If you asked me today, and if you'd asked me two years ago, I'd tell you I'm very fond of my house. It's nothing special. It's a townhouse surrounded by other townhouses that look just like it, forming a semicircle of beige brick at the end of a street. There's no garden, because when I

Here’s a mystery: below 8,400 meters there are no fish. There are other creatures: sea cucumbers, anemones, tiny worms, but no one has ever seen a fish. At 8,370 meters? There are fish. But not below 8,400 meters. At its deepest the ocean reaches roughly 11,000 meters, so there is plenty of space. And right below 8,400

Samples collected from asteroid Ryugu contain the four genetic “letters” of DNA, reinforcing the hypothesis that the chemical origins of life were present when…

Is it ok to invoke Anne Frank in discussing kids hiding from ICE? Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum disagree.

CINDER HOUSE Available now from Tor and Bramble UK A USA Today bestseller!An Indie Next pick Sparks fly and lovers dance in this gorgeous, yearning Cinderella retelling from bestselling author Freya Marske—a queer Gothic romance perfect for fans of Naomi Novik and T. Kingfisher. Ella is a haunting. Murdered at sixteen, her ghost is furiously […]

On war and what we have to choke down.

Official website of author Karen E. Bender

Natasha Brown is the author of Assembly and Universality

Learner drivers in New South Wales are subject to some of the most stringent requirements before getting their licences – but our study shows it doesn’t necessarily make them safer drivers.

Artemis II astronauts updated the iconic 1968 image during their 2026 loop around the Moon.

The Y chromosome doesn’t seem to do much except determine sex – but its loss in older men might be linked to heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer’s.

Adenoviral vaccines are widely used. We need to know why some people get deadly blood clots.

Our understanding of migraine is starting to shift, overturning ideas of what's a symptom and what's a trigger, and which part of the brain is key for developing effective treatments.

OpenAI has some big questions. It doesn’t have unique tech. It has a big user base, but with limited engagement and stickiness and no network effect. The incumbents have matched the tech and are leveraging their product and distribution. And a lot of the value and leverage will come from new experiences that haven’t been invented yet, and it can’t invent all of those itself. What’s the plan?

The highest ranking Black leader in NYC has thoughts about John Davidson and the 2026 BAFTA Awards Tourette's incident.