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

So goes popular opinion: the lottery s an egregious societal evil implemented and overseen by shape-shifting, blood-drinking reptilian aliens. And that may be largely true designed to slowly and quietly bleed dry your pockets that is, unless you learn to drive it

At more than twice the size of the Titanic, the Costa Concordia was the largest passenger vessel ever to sink when it capsized off Italy's northwest coast on January 13. So far, Italian authorities say of the more than 4,200 passengers and crew on board, at least 18 are confirmed dead and 14 unaccounted for , and the insurance costs may reach $1 billion, according to Moody's Investors Service.

Dark matter. It’s hard to see, it’s hard to study and it just won’t behave. There’s plenty dark matter around

Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease--the immune system mistakenly attacks its own body, causing red, itchy, scaly patches on the skin. But there may be a hidden upside.

Knee replacement image courtesy of iStockphoto/33karen33 As the U.S. population ages and continues packing on the pounds, knee replacement surgeries are becoming increasingly common

By Sharon Begley NEW YORK (Reuters) - When at least 80 tornadoes rampaged across the United States, from the Midwest to the Gulf of Mexico, last Friday, it was more than is typically observed during the entire month of March, tracking firm AccuWeather.com reported on Monday. According to some climate scientists, such earlier-than-normal outbreaks of tornadoes, which typically peak in the spring, will become the norm as the planet warms

City-slickers: Have you ever worried that, at any moment, you could be struck dead by a penny flung off the roof of a nearby skyscraper? [More]

This dog does not exist Last week Robert Krulwich, a co-host of the wonderful program Radiolab , Pluto’d pink. In a blog post he noted that pink doesn’t occupy a slot in the familiar colors of the rainbow there’s no P in Roy G. Biv .

In a new experiment, Iceland is looking to replace its smokestacks with well injectors to permanently sequester its carbon dioxide emissions. [More]

When Deidre Ramos moved with her infant son to the Parker Street section of New Bedford, Mass., little did she know that her new neighborhood was toxic. [More]

By Katherine Rowland of Nature magazine As plumes of pollution rise over the booming industrial towns of Asia, satellite data could help to alert people in other regions to the approach of drifting smog.

When the 10-meter-high tsunami wave that followed the March 2011 magnitude 9.0 earthquake in Japan receded, it took with it some 23 million metric tons of material, including pieces of buildings, wood, plastics and more. Whereas most of the wreckage sank to the ocean floor, some of it is still floating toward other Pacific nations . The "debris field"--the visible wave of material--has dissipated, leaving the junk invisible to satellites.

The earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan last March created an estimated 25 million tons of debris, large amounts of which washed into the ocean. Soon after the disaster, satellites photographed and tracked large mats of wreckage--building parts, boats and household objects--floating off the Japanese coast

The financial news giant is launching a tech vertical, several new blogs, and creating original video content. The crowded tech news scene will become even more crowded this week--Bloomberg has announced a major overhaul of their tech coverage.

The Bronx Zoo Monkey House. | Photo by Geoff Stearns, Creative Commons