Culture

Julian Dibbell says that while Second Life seems to have failed to live up to its early promise, it has helped further the baked in gamification of life online and off.

The head of the Philip K. Dick android, which went missing in 2006, has been rebuilt by Hanson Robotics. Who will help it come to grips with its strange and chequered past? Video after the jump.

Opera on the radio, Paul Feyerabend's scientific relativism, and Soviet mistrust of scientists and intellectuals: today's hits in the history of science and technology

Neue Films' video for the Queens-based baroque rockers catches life's uncanny, elemental evanescence. Video after the jump.

Iron girders, gay Paris, and the crackle of radio transmissions: today's hit in the history of science and technology.

Mastering the musical cactus requires not only a deft ear, but a good supply of bandages.

The trouble with the Rebel Alliance: no exit strategy. Video after the jump

Moons of Uranus, a trans-Pacific solo flight, and the health dangers of smoking: today's hits in the history of science and technology.

To reboot their product line, Polaroid have appealed to the highest authority: they've named Lady Gaga their creative director. Her photographic sunglasses may be a caprice; her new digital instant camera offers retronovation with technical flair.

According to sci-fi novelist Arthur C. Clarke, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." That's how I feel about American pizza delivery. It's all about an obsession with convenience bordering on the quantum, and it's what makes America the best country in the world.