Laura Secorun Palet

In today's world it can be easy to feel like there's nothing left to discover, that all the blank bits of the map have long been filled. Gregory Asner begs to differ, and he's developed a lab in the sky to prove it.

In the Carnegie Airborne Observatory, ...

On a cold November morning, 300 children gather in a soccer field in Zaatari, a Jordanian village next to the country's largest refugee camp.

Most of them are Syrians who fled from Homs with their families and now live in makeshift tents in what was already a ...

Trying to save the world today can take on many forms. For Javier Goyeneche, a 44-year-old Spanish entrepreneur, it happens to involve trash — discarded tires, leftover coffee grounds, even old fishing nets from the sea. He's not just recycling them; he's using them to make a fashion statement.

Goyeneche ...

What would you do with thousands of tons of leftover nutshells? It's a question that Turkey — the world's third-biggest producer of pistachios, behind Iran and the United States — has been asking itself for years.

Usually discarded pistachio shells end up in landfills, but nut-loving Turks think ...

You might think that Scotland's failed independence vote in September would discourage Americans from going the same route. And after the South's failed attempt to break away more than 150 years ago, who could think of trying it again?

About a dozen regions, as it turns out. They might not ...

Caitlin Doughty remembers her first encounter with death.

"That thud — that noise of the girl's body hitting laminate — would play over and over again in my mind, dull thud after dull thud," she writes in her new book, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the ...

Our personal information is highly valued, and online data brokers are making millions by gathering and sharing our search histories, buying habits and marriage statuses with advertisers and marketers. But several new services want to help you take control of this process — by selling your personal data yourself.

That's ...

You're probably well-acquainted with the idea of the food van. The more sartorially minded may have even visited a fashion truck. Now, it's translated into literature aimed at tourists.

In June 2013, three entrepreneurial literature lovers from Portugal's capital created a nomadic bookstore that moves around the city all ...

When was the last time you looked at the Milky Way? Or saw the shape of Cassiopeia? If you live in a city, you might not even remember. In the world's most populated areas, air and light pollution obscure the sight of thousands of stars once visible to the naked ...

First it was knitting; then came excessive facial grooming, vegan baking and urban beekeeping. You thought hipster hobbies couldn't get weirder? Brace yourself.

Now think: taxidermy. From DIY stuffing kits to workshops and homemade skull jewelry, this old craft is getting a revival from the hands of artists, designers and ...

Updated at 12:25 p.m. ET.

President Obama says that the U.S. will continue to provide Iraq with humanitarian and military assistance, but he ruled out ground troops and reiterated administration calls for Iraq to form a "legitimate" government in order to face the threat from Islamic militants.

Speaking to ...

This post is part of our Weekly Innovation series, in which we explore an interesting idea, design or product that you may not have heard of yet. Do you have an innovation to share? Use this quick form.

The U.S. wastes up to 40 percent of its food. ...

Stash gold in a Swiss bank? It's old hat. Try something really valuable: data.

Swiss vaults have held treasures ranging from Nazi gold to Wall Street fortunes. Now they might become the guardians of the 21st century's most precious asset. Think thick steel doors, timed locks, biometric sensors — all ...

Ibiza — famous for wild, all-night parties — is home to some of the Mediterranean's most pristine beaches and thriving marine ecosystems. But these could soon be endangered by more than the island's hedonism.

Spain's central government is considering whether to allow oil prospecting near the coasts of Ibiza and ...

Cooking is a messy endeavor, and few recipe books escape drips, spills and splatters. But help is at hand.

Two young Italian designers have come up with I Tradizionali, a collection of beautiful and temporary tattoos of Italian recipes that fit on your forearm.

Do the shallots go in before ...

A woman in Seattle said a small aircraft was hovering outside her window. Two men piloting the craft packed up their gear and fled before police arrived. The men may be on security tapes.

Even in times of global economic crisis and shrinking national budgets, many countries cling tight to their military forces. Defense spending, for most states, is considered an unavoidable necessity for protecting citizens.

But what if having a military wasn't necessary? There are currently 23 countries in the world that don't ...

Have you ever fantasized about getting away from it all — going somewhere without smartphones, computers or Twitter?

Tuning out from technology can be challenging, but for the truly daring, there is an even more radical solution. In southern Spain, thousands of people live completely unplugged — in caverns.

The ...

Despite his serene demeanor, Bas van Abel once got so furious, he smashed his 11-year-old's Nintendo DS. It wasn't his son's fault. It was the toy: Van Abel couldn't get it open.

An advocate of open design and a prominent member of the global maker community, van Abel lives by ...

When computers finally become self-aware, will their first act be enslaving the obviously inferior human race? The answer, I think, is "no."

But they won't spare us out of altruism or a sense of responsibility to their creators. No, they will leave us alone because we bore them.

The average ...