Maybe we are alone in the galaxy after all. The galaxy appears to be devoid of super civilizations, but lesser cultures could have eluded the ongoing searches

The vastness and vagaries of space will force interstellar correspondents into extreme measures

It's been a wild ride for the corporate and government parties who have deciphered the human genetic code. The fun has just begun

With all of the DNA that codes for a human in hand, the challenge then becomes what to make of it. Some of the first fruits will come from a new field called proteomics

The Large Hadron Collider will be a particle accelerator of unprecedented energy and complexity, a global collaboration to uncover an exotic new layer of reality

Great minds shape the thinking of successive historical periods. Luther and Calvin inspired the Reformation; Locke, Leibniz, Voltaire and Rousseau, the Enlightenment. Modern thought is most dependent on the influence of Charles Darwin

Swiss engineer Robert Maillart built some of the greatest bridges of the 20th century. His designs elegantly solved a basic engineering problem: how to support enormous weights using a slender arch

Two lakes in Cameroon are poised to release lethal gas, as they did in the 1980s. Writer Marguerite Holloway reports on scientists' efforts to prevent another tragedy

A $300-million industry has emerged around turning raw genome data into knowledge for making new drugs