Powerful new genetic tools allow scientists to alter the DNA of any organism—with tests on human embryos already underway. Even more ambitious, synthetic biologists on the verge of creating the genetic material for a living organism from scratch are setting their long-term sites on fashioning a fully synthetic human genome.

A second doesn’t always feel like a second—time can seem to slow down if you’re riding a death-defying roller coaster, or speed up while you’re having a night out on the town. But just what’s going on inside our heads to skew our perception of time?

How did Eric Lander go from being an extremely talented and accomplished mathematician to making one of the most important contributions to the field of genetics? We take a look …

Are there unresolved foundational questions in quantum physics? Philosopher Tim Maudlin thinks so, and joins Brian Greene to explore possible answers. This program is part of the Big Ideas series, …

What are scientists looking for when searching for alien life? A lot, it turns out: the search for extraterrestrials requires the help from astronomers, planetary scientists, chemists, computer scientists, and geneticists, just to name a few. But are we barking up the wrong carbon-based tree?

The prestigious biennial Kavli Prizes recognize scientists for major advances in three research areas: astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience—the big, the small and the complex. The 2014 winners, sharing a $1 million award in each field, will be announced live via satellite from the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters in Oslo.