William Herkewitz

The star had been in hiding. A galaxy sat halfway between it and us, eclipsing it from the Earth’s point of view. But when it went supernova last September, astronomers caught the image of the concealed explosion anyhow, all thanks to a cool trick of physics. Because of a bizarre effect called gravitational lensing explained by Einstein’s theory of general relativity, scientists caught four separate images of the supernova in a single picture. Stranger still, the faraway supernova—it lies more…

Dungeons Dragons is the oldest tabletop roleplaying game of sword and sorcery—emphasis on the sorcery. Because without magic, DD wouldn’t be very exciting, unless you like wargaming the Battle of Agincourt while rolling constitution checks to not contract the plague. Magic, and its evolving rules, gives DD its storytelling power, letting players’ minds wander beyond the real world. It makes sense that, in the game’s first edition, DD creator Gary Gygax borrowed mythical races and monsters like…

We know cheetahs are the speed demons of the animal kingdom, but how do other animals in the air and sea measure up?

Nowhere is Scrabble taken more seriously than in Africa, where many countries recognize the game as an official sport. We spoke to Kenya’s Jared Omolo, a professional player (and CDC epidemiologist) who earns his title with deep preparation and tested techniques. Word Power As you might expect, pro Scrabble players live and die by their voluminous vocabulary. “We call it ‘Word Power,’ and it’s definitely the most critical element in Scrabble strategy,” says Omolo. But not all words are weighed…

It was a war of titans you likely never heard about. One year ago, two of the world’s strongest and most radically different chess engines fought a pitched, 100-game battle to decide the future of computer chess.On one side was Stockfish 8. This world-champion program approaches chess like dynamite handles a boulder—with sheer force, churning through 60 million potential moves per second. Of these millions of moves, Stockfish picks what it sees as the very best one—with “best” defined by a compl…

Charles Anderson’s Star Destroyer stretches almost 5 feet long, but opposite the enormity is an attention to detail—the filigree of LEGO figurine hands ringing the docking bay; the barnacle-like swath of pipes that make up the vents, pipes, and cannons—that makes the ship an artistic, architectural marvel.It took Charles 15 months and more than 500 hours to design and build his LEGO version of the iconic Imperial Star Destroyer, first imprinted on the collective consciousness when it crawled acr…

A groundbreaking experiment has possibly rewritten the rules of the universe. It couldn’t have happened without this 17-ton electromagnet.

Recent releases worthy of your next game night.

All hail the water bear.

All hail the water bear.