NASA

A New Play About the Scandalous Astronaut Lisa Nowak

"I've come to believe that all theater is 'experimental theater,'" declares Los Angeles stage auteur Joseph Tepperman. "But I don't know -- there's a problem with using that word because then people expect Robert Wilson, they expect something avant-garde with a capital A, capital G." Tepperman and ... More >>

NASA Gives Grant to Create 3-D Food Printer

The future very rarely produces what we expect it to, or what we are lead to believe it might produce by science fiction writers. Where are the flying cars? The teleporters? But instant, from-the-ether food might be on its way (a-la Star Trek's replicator or the Jetson's food machine), thanks to a c ... More >>

Endeavour Flyover List Includes Disneyland, Getty Museum, Universal Studios

The LAPD really thinks you're retarded. Here's your chance to prove the department wrong. You see, L.A. police officials are afraid that you'll be so wowed by the site of retired Space Shuttle Endeavour cruising above town on a 747 that you'll take your eyes off the road and crash your car Friday m ... More >>

VIDEO: Obama Calls Mars Rover Team at JPL, Talks Martians and Mohawk Guy

As is tradition after big American achievements or tragedies (such as, earlier this month, Michael Phelps' 19th Olympic medal and the Sikh community's tragic loss), President Obama reached out to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory this morning over telephone. You'd think the big White House phone cal ... More >>

Hottest July Ever, America

As your face melts and you curse the gods of summer, remember the words of Al Gore: It's an urgent problem that requires urgent attention and must be addressed. Yep. Air conditioning. Now. Turns out the United States had its hottest month ever in July. You can tiptoe around this global warming thi ... More >>

Monster Pothole in 405 Construction Zone Flattens Hella Tires, Backs Up Traffic for Miles

Let's hope incoming NASA space shuttle Endeavour doesn't hit one of these babies on its road trip across Los Angeles. Last night around 8 p.m., just as rush hour was about to die down, the pothole to trump all potholes was unearthed on the 405 North -- right smack dab in the middle of Metro's lates ... More >>

Food News Roundup: NASA's Plans To Feed Astronauts, Mario Batali's Favorite Restaurants Peach Pie With Duck and Cherries

Zester Daily: A view into the life of a farmer for a better understanding of our food production system. Grub Street: An article exploring gazpacho with basil-lime granite -- and the rest of the menu at West Hollywood's new restaurant Duplex. Eater L.A.: Ramen from Tsujita, pork ribs from Ham Ji ... More >>

Meet Mark Wallace, NASA's Interplanetary Travel Agent

"Thank you for having me!" he says at the end. "Any questions?" In a tiny, hole-in-the-wall art gallery in central L.A., a rocket scientist is wrapping up a talk titled "Getting There: Science Fiction ... and Fact." The gallery founder, wanting to add a bit of oomph to a space-related exhibit, had r ... More >>

Sombrero Shaped Galaxy Has Multiplied

It turns out the so-called Sombrero Galaxy -- shaped like the Mexican hat -- is now two. Ay Dios mio: Leave us Latinos alone for two seconds and -- boom! -- we multiply. Well, not exactly. The Sombrero was two all along, NASA Spitzer Science Center researchers at Caltech said recently:

Robert Butyka Hacked Into JPL Computer System, Called Himself 'The Iceman,' Feds Say

He called himself The Iceman, and he hacked into some of the more sensitive computers in the realm of U.S. space and defense systems -- those at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. So says the U.S. Attorney's Office, which today announced that a federal grand jury has turned up the heat o ... More >>

Three New Planets Discovered by Caltech, NASA Scientists

CaltechThree planets were found around 'red dwarf' KOI-961.​Three new planets have been discovered, and they're tinier than than a Smart Car. Well, not that small, but Caltech states the trio comprises the "smallest confirmed planets ever detected outside our solar system." The three, discov ... More >>

Back to the Future's $500,000 DeLorean and Darth Vader Costume Sell at Hollywood Auction. Ruby Slippers Still Available

A fully functioning hoverboard...y'know...for the kids​Local memorabilia-selling powerhouse, Profiles in History did another one of their epic auctions this weekend at the Paley Media Center in Beverly Hills -- and the nerds cleaned house. Again. Compared to Debbie Reynolds' series of show-st ... More >>

'Blue Sky Metropolis' at the Huntington Library Shows How Aerospace Shaped L.A., From Surfing to Marilyn Monroe

Nasa photoNASA pilot Bill Dana watches a Boeing NB-52B carrier aircraft fly overhead after a successful test flight of the Northrop HL-10 lifting body at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center in 1969. Fellow pilot John Reeves can be seen at the cockpit of the lifting body.​ At a new exhibition at ... More >>

Cheerio, Magna Carta: Nine Important Historical Documents in L.A Right Now

Magna Carta​ A document can make a big difference, as the Birthers are currently proving in all the wrong ways. The Magna Carta -- a document whose Madonna-level status requires you to drop the "the" and refer to it simply as "Magna Carta" -- reframed the relationship between royalty and us re ... More >>

Ask Mr. Gold: What's The Big Deal With Quinoa?

Anne Fishbeinthe invisible restaurant critic​ Dear Mr. Gold: What's the big deal with quinoa? I couldn't even pronounce it right when I first saw it on the menu at Hugo's in Studio City. Then I saw it at Trader Joe's and then I saw it everywhere. It has probably been around forever, but has on ... More >>

Studly Astronaut From L.A. County High School To Command NASA's 'Discovery' Mission

NASATemple City High, Class of 1978​Updated after the jump: NASA has postponed the 39th and final Discovery mission until at least Nov. 30. Well, that was anticlimactic. Originally posted at 11:04 a.m. Venice has Morrison; Long Beach has Snoop; Compton has the venerable Coolio. Now, the San ... More >>

MONSTERS

National Weather Service: 'Dangerous Heat Expected' For Much Of L.A.

NASA​Hot enough for you yet? Still complaining about that cool summer? Didn't think so. And it looks like Madre Nature is about to turn it up a notch. The National Weather Service has issued a notice that states, in part, "dangerous heat expected" for Wednesday. The usual suspects should be o ... More >>

The 70% Solution: Tasting Notes on Tcho "Fruity" Dark Chocolate

Ben CalderwoodTcho tasting bar with proprietary flavor wheel visible on the package​ The 70% Solution intentionally fudges the numbers by a few percentage points (the pun, Mom's honor, is accidental) to introduce Squid Ink tasters to Tcho, the world's first internet chocolate. Producer: Tcho ... More >>

Dr. Andrew E. Johnson: The Visionary

L.A. Tops List Of 'Most Polluted Cities'

NASA​Old timers will tell you it's not like it used to be, when Los Angeles would be socked in for weeks at a time by dense smog that ringed the foothills and capped the basin. It has been a long time. Still, comparatively speaking, L.A. is still tops when it comes to air pollution. The Ameri ... More >>

The Top Secret Science Papers of YACHT's Claire Evans

The Top Secret Science Papers of Yacht's Claire Evans

I Can't Believe I Ate the Whole Thing: Neptune Eats Planet

We've all felt hungry in the middle of the night - hungry enough, perhaps, to power through an entire pint of Häagen-Dazs, or finish off the half-pizza left in the fridge. But it's safe to assume that few of us have ever been as voracious as the planet Neptune, which may have, according to a paper ... More >>

EXHIBITIONISTS WANTED

Asteroid Headed For Earth; Extraterrestrial Warned Us

NBCCarnac the Magnificent, as played by Johnny Carson.​If you're a perennial, SoCal, top-down kind of driver, you might want to plan to go hard-top for this one: NASA confirmed last fall that a good-sized asteroid, called Apophis, is on a collision course with our kind planet, with an impact d ... More >>

Spike Jonze and Co. to Debut a Where the Wild Things Are Pop-Up Shop and Art Opening at Space 15 Twenty

Here's some hot news: the highly anticipated Spike Jonze/Dave Eggers/Maurice Sendak adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are will begin its marketing blitz on Saturday, September 19 at Space 15 Twenty in Hollywood with a pop-up shop and art opening. The DJ will be Squeak E. Clean, also known as Sam S ... More >>

Unlike a Box of Chocolates

Coachella 2009 Announced: Amy Winehouse, Paul McCartney, My Bloody Valentine ... Throbbing Gristle! Leonard Cohen!

Yeah, so all the silly speculation probably isn't done yet, as Goldenvoice always adds a few heavy-hitters after the initial announcement, but the initial line-up is up. Click through to see it in all it's glory. We'll start analyzing it soon, but for now: Throbbing Gristle! No Pavement? Let the ... More >>

Rock Picks: Raveonettes, Amebix, Thorns of Life

Also, the Head Cat, the Spanks, Jimmy Webb and others

Coachella Rumor Mill Works Overtime, but the Confirmations Continue to Trickle In

(Michel Gondry's video for the Chemical Brothers' "Let Forever Be.") Here's a list of "confirmed" (so far) acts to appear at Coachella 2009, according to the very reliable Monklish blog. His guarantee: "I've been told that these have been making arrangements to attend the festival as contractuall ... More >>

Stage Raw: Apollo Rising

APOLLO RISING      It's a vision thing. From a workshop production of Nancy Keystone's Apollo. Photo by Efram Delgadillo, Jr. L.A.'s loss is Portland's gain. Those with any memory of local theater will remember A.S.K. Theater Projects and its thrilling work with new play develop ... More >>

Theater Reviews: Hamlet, Razorback, The Most Mediocre Story Never Told

Also, Earth Sucks, Kiss of the Spiderwoman, Politico!

The Smell's Fantastic New Website

Downtown all-ages club The Smell has long been hub of an insanely vibrant punk, noise and experimental scene. The much-discussed grassroots community has seeded many a memorable night, but until now it had never been successfully captured online. This week, however, the club debuted its new website ... More >>

Those Olympic Swimsuits, a.k.a. Drugs on a Hanger?

Now that Michael Phelps finally crushed the 400-meter this past weekend, how about those Olympic swimsuits? You know, those controversial Speedo LZR Racer bodysuits that look like a pair of Spanx pantyhose mated with a scuba suit. The ones that caused tons of world records to be broken? People ... More >>

Bad Religion

Lost On Earth

Space Commodity

The Light Stuff

Coming Back to Earth

The shuttle disaster and the Quiet American within

Next Big Thing: Looking for That Song

The Back Story

Judith Lewis

Los Angeles: June, 2002

A semi-comic fantasy about an aspect of the future that may prove pertinent to L.A.

Microbats, Broken Skulls, Rocket Girls & Prehistoric Beach Bears

The Scientists among us: A photo essay

Misguided Billions

A better way to spend the missile-defense budget

Leisure Copworld

LAPD officers dream of a three-day week

Beginning To See the Light

The power crisis and its global warning

Glamour Guys of Geezer Gulch

The beautiful butt-ugly truth about Space Cowboys

Star Struck

Getting hit on the head in Tina Landau's Space

The Lunar Shot

The most expensive photographs ever taken

Falling Rock

Michael Bay, terminator