Science & Technology

The elusive actor tells Fresh Air about his new film, Her -- but he insists he's not really that interesting. "If I was driving and I heard this, I'd change the channel," he says.

The film Her, written and directed by Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich), follows a lonely man who falls in love with a computer operating system. Critic David Edelstein says it's the best film of the year by far. (Recommended)

The president alone can approve or reject construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, which is designed to take crude oil extracted from Alberta, Canada, through America's heartland to refineries on the Gulf Coast. New Yorker journalist Ryan Lizza says Obama could use the decision as a "symbolic turning point in the kind of energy future he wants America to have."

In The Story of the Human Body, evolutionary biologist Daniel Lieberman explains how our bodies haven't adapted to modern conditions. The result is "mismatch diseases" -- ailments that occur because our bodies weren't designed for the environments in which we now live.

Today's Internet users have become accustomed to stories of hacking, identity theft and cyberattacks, but there was a time when the freedom and anonymity of the Web were new, and no one was sure what rules — if any — applied to its use.

In a series for The New York Times, environmental reporter Justin Gillis has been exploring whether harsh weather events are connected to global warming or if they are simply the random violence nature visits upon us.

Scott Shane, a national security correspondent for The New York Times, speaks with Fresh Air's Terry Gross about the drone-related stories he has helped break, including the revelation that President Obama personally approves targeted strikes against suspected terror suspects.

If you ask climate scientist Radley Horton, it's difficult to say that Hurricane Sandy was directly caused by climate change, but he says there are strong connections between the two. He talks with Fresh Air's Terry Gross about climate change and preparing for severe weather.

Waging Heavy Peace is about his music, raising two sons with special needs, and his own medical conditions, which have included polio, epilepsy and a brain aneurysm.

Rian Johnson's action-thriller can't dodge the frustrating elements of most time-travel tales, but the film's characters, performances and stylization add up to an experience that critic David Edelstein believes is the right amount of happy and tragic.

Thor Hanson's new book looks at the evolutionary significance of feathers in birds. Hanson tells Fresh Air that he's amazed by birds' magnitude of feathers, how feathers grow and how they're the "most efficient insulation known."

In Karen Thompson Walker's first book, climate change makes the Earth's rotation go more and more sluggish, but this melancholy page-turner is more than just a disaster plot.

What does the Internet look like? Journalist Andrew Blum decided to find out. His new book, Tubes, is a journey into the Internet's physical infrastructure -- where our data is stored and transmitted.

In Private Empire, investigative journalist Steve Coll explains how Exxon Mobil has used its money and power to wind significant influence in Washington, D.C., concerning issues like climate change.

In February, President Obama signed an aviation bill requiring the FAA to make plans to integrate drones into American airspace. Brooking Institution senior fellow John Villasenor explains what these drones will be able to see -- and how our privacy and national security may be affected.

The scientist is known as much for his contributions to theoretical cosmology and quantum gravity as for his willingness to make science accessible for the general public. His work is the topic of a new biography by science writer Kitty Ferguson.

Theoretical physicist Michio Kaku descries some of the inventions he thinks will appear in the coming century -- including Internet-ready contact lenses, space elevators and driverless cars -- in his book Physics of the Future.

A young orphan stumbles on a mystery while living in a Paris train station.

Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple are expanding rapidly into finance, advertising, media and retail. Tech writer Farad Manjoo outlines how the four companies are heading in new directions -- and encroaching on each other's territory -- as they try to expand their customer base.

This summer of record-breaking heat followed a spring that brought some of the most extreme weather on record. In her book The Weather of the Future, climatologist Heidi Cullen writes, "It's time to face the fact that the weather isn't what it used to be."