The new computer game “Spore” lets users create single-celled microbes and, as the game progresses, they “evolve” into complex creatures and highly developed civilizations. The game’s creator, Will Wright, who also invented “The Sims,” weighs in on the intelligent design debate, and gives ...

Every year at summer’s end, a ragtag community of free spirits gathers in the Nevada desert for Burning Man, a massive art project with a fiery finish. Intrepid correspondent “Fiona Chutney” (a character played by actress and writer Iris Bahr) hopped a ride to the ...

What did the music of ancient Greece sound like? Pottery shards and scraps of papyrus are the only clues we have. As Richard Paul discovered, there’s a passionate group of classics scholars and musicians trying to fill in the blanks and revive the ...

From costume dramas to postmodern classics, the actor doesn’t worry too much about being typecast. John Malkovich tells Kurt about the delight of finally playing a character more pretentious than himself in the Coen Brothers' new comedy “Burn After Reading.”

Early humans hollowed out gourds to carry their water. Today we drink melted icebergs housed in crystal-studded bottles. Is this progress? Elizabeth Royte tracks the evolution of the water bottle. Produced by Catherine Epstein.