Philippe Matthews Show Guru Advice, Author Reviews, Tech Reviews, Entertainment News

Is everything information? This seductive idea animates the brand-new book The Information by James Gleick (Pantheon 2011), which I just rave-reviewed in The Wall Street Journal

At the end of Casablanca , when Humphrey Bogart finally tells Ingrid Bergman to get on the plane back to her husband, the young mother watching the afternoon TV movie sheds a tear. Instinctively, her two-year-old tries to comfort her by offering his teddy bear to her

The tropical rain band that encircles Earth just north of the equator affects rainfall patterns worldwide. By taking sediment cores from pond and lake beds on tropical islands, scientists can determine where the band has been since A.D

The first indication that our expedition was not going as planned was the abrupt sputter and stop of the boat’s inboard engine at 2 a.m.

By Svetlana Kovalyova and Deepa Babington MILAN/ROME (Reuters) - Climate change bringing floods and drought, growing biofuel demand and national policies to protect domestic markets could drive up global food prices and threaten long-term food security, the United Nations said. [More]

The National Sleep Foundation released the results of its annual sleep poll today, where they surveyed more than 1,500 people between ages of 13 and 64. Here are some of the findings:

[Please note this podcast episode is longer than 60 seconds.]

March is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness month, when public health groups take special pains to promote screening for cancer of the rectum and colon. A leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S., this disease kills about 50,000 people each year; caught early, however, it has a good chance of being cured.

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It has happened to everyone. You can’t recall a name or you forget your credit card PIN number.

Illustrations by Shingo Shimizu Breakthroughs in materials science mean greener, cleaner, and safer spaces. We take a closer peek at three that amaze. .h2{ color:rgb(0,113,146) !important; clear:both !important; } .p{ font-size:11.5px !important; clear:both !important; } #float_box { width:580px; margin:10px auto; } #bird_windows { width:250px; margin-right:20px; float:left; } #bird_windows img { margin-bottom:10px; } #liquid_glass { width:300px; float:right; } #liquid_glass img { margin-bottom:10px; } Heat-Releasing Walls To keep a room cool, just let the walls melt

By Philip Ball The first microscopes were a lot better than they are usually given credit for. [More]

In the last few years NASA has built and launched two world-class climate satellites, both of which promised invaluable new data on the natural and human influences on Earth's changing climate. Neither of them, however, will ever deliver the data that climate scientists so eagerly expected from them.

When asked recently on The Today Show how he cured himself of his addiction, Two and a Half Men sitcom star Charlie Sheen replied, "I closed my eyes and made it so with the power of my mind." Until last month, he was the highest paid actor on TV, despite his well-known bad-boy lifestyle and persistent problems with alcohol and cocaine. After the rest of his season's shows were canceled by producers, Sheen has gone on an interview tear with many bizarre statements , including that he is on a "winning" streak. His claims of quitting a serious drug habit on his own, however, is perhaps one of his least eccentric statements.

If you’ve ever commuted through New York City during rush hour, you’ve probably experienced stress-inducing traffic, over-stuffed subway cars, or delays that don’t care if you’ve given yourself an extra half hour. In 1924 the New York metropolitan area’s population was already large enough to get the Transit Commission thinking of ways to accommodate future traffic needs