Centuries before Columbus, Vikings came to the Western hemisphere. How far into the Americas did they travel?

Bed Bath and Beyond announced the first 63 U.S. locations that will close after Christmas, 2020, as part of a restructuring plan due to financial losses from COVID-19.

It took decades, but Chuck Feeney, the former billionaire cofounder of retail giant Duty Free Shoppers has finally given all his money away to charity. He has nothing left now—and he couldn’t be happier.

NASA is considering approving by next April up to two planetary science missions from four proposals under review, including one to Venus that scientists involved in the project said could help determine whether or not that planet harbors life. An international research team on Monday described evidence of potential microbes residing in the harshly acidic Venusian clouds: traces of phosphine, a gas that on Earth is produced by bacteria inhabiting oxygen-free environments. It provided strong pote...

The naturalist looks at the fragile state of the natural world and how human activity drives extinction.

Aided by a trick of gravity, astronomers have found a normal galaxy. Big deal, right? The thing is, where they found it is not normal: The light we see from it left the galaxy 12.4 billion years ago, meaning we’re seeing it as it was when the Universe itself was only 1.4 billion years old! That’s what makes this so weird. A normal galaxy has no business being there when the cosmos was so young. But yet, there it sits.

In its early days, streaming offered a glimmer of a utopian free-for-all: A music landscape where all artists had equal chances of making it big, where a $9.99-per-month endless buffet of music would drive listeners away from the mainstream and into the niche. Wired editor Chris Anderson was so optimistic in 2004 that he famously suggested that streaming would upend our notions of supply and demand, creating a “long tail” where the non-hits would get a bigger share than they ever had before.

Fancy Bear—the Russian state hacking group that brought you the smash-and-leak attacks on the Democratic National Committee and World Anti-Doping Agency, the NotPetya worm that inflicted billions of dollars of damage worldwide, and the VPN Filter compromise of 500,000 routers—is targeting organizations involved in elections taking place in the US and UK, Microsoft has warned.

Los Angeles and 25 other southern California cities are paying their residents up to $6,000 to dig up their lawns and put in fake turf and woodchips—part of a bid to help meet the state’s mandatory reduction in water use issued in April. That comes out to about $2 per square foot of lawn replaced. It’s easy to see why: During California’s summer dry season, 50-80% of residential water consumption comes from lawn care and other outdoor uses, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Bitcoin doesn’t need “smart contracts” for the same reason your bathroom scale doesn’t need to exercise. Both are there to provide you with an objective standard. If you are having difficulty with that standard, it is you that needs to change, not the standard.

Distinct psychological mix associated with mountain populations is consistent with the theory that harsh frontiers attracted certain personalities. When historian Frederick Jackson Turner presented his famous thesis on the US frontier in 1893, he described the “coarseness and strength combined with acuteness and acquisitiveness” it had forged in the American character.

The IIGCC is a European group of global pension funds and investment managers, totaling over 1,200 members in 16 countries, who control more than $40 trillion in assets (€33 trillion). They have drawn up a plan to cut carbon in their portfolios to net-zero and hope other investors will join them.

Defensive Trump tweets call for Jennifer Griffin’s dismissal after reporter confirmed president called dead soldiers ‘losers’

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, seemingly stung by criticism that the social media giant he oversees has fueled right-wing extremism, is working hard to burnish his image as a defender of democracy. The New York Times reports that on Thursday “Facebook moved to clamp down on any confusion about the November election on its service, rolling out a sweeping set of changes to try to limit voter misinformation and prevent interference from President Trump and other politicians.”

Kanye West revisited that infamous moment at the 2009 VMAs where he interrupted Taylor Swift in the middle of her acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards. No one could have foreseen the mark that it would leave on both of their legacies, and now Ye made some new claims about the encounter during an interview with Nick Cannon on the latest episode of Cannon’s podcast show, Cannon’s Class.

When might an Apple malware protection pose more user risk than none at all? When it certifies a trojan as safe even though it sticks out like a sore thumb and represents one of the biggest threats on the macOS platform. The world received this object lesson over the weekend after Apple gave its imprimatur to the latest samples of “Shlayer,” the name given to a trojan that has been among the most—if not the most—prolific pieces of Mac malware for more than two years.

Dozens of Black former McDonald's franchise owners on Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit against the fast food giant for alleged racial discrimination, claiming the company denied them the same opportunities as white franchisees by steering them toward stores in low-income areas where insurance and security costs are higher and sales revenues are lower than average.

The Walt Disney Co. and Marvel Studios will pay tribute to Chadwick Boseman tonight with a special commercial-free airing of “Black Panther” on ABC, followed by a special examining the actor’s life and work.

French President Emmanuel Macron has ordered hunters in southern France to stop the controversial practice of trapping birds on glue-covered twigs. The suspension follows a warning to France from the European Commission that it could face legal action at EU level if the practice continued. France is unusual in Europe for still tolerating the glue method, used to catch thrushes and blackbirds.

Calling for a crackdown of two major contributors to California’s notoriously hazy air, the state is moving forward with stringent new anti-smog laws for the shipping and transportation industries. Aimed at cargo ships and heavy-duty diesel trucks, the California Air Resources Board estimates the new rules will drastically reduce air pollution and prevent over $35 billion in medical costs over the next three decades. The board cast the decision as a win for environmental justice and passed it...