SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Not much can surprise someone who partook in four shuttle missions and three space walks during a 36-year career with NASA. Let alone, for someone who has spent their life studying space and space travel, the proposal of a new satellite technology.

But when Stephen Robinson, director of UC Davis’ Center for Space ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- Seymour Lemonick just accomplished something few 90-year-olds can dream of: staging his first art exhibition.

For the retired Philadelphia teacher and football coach — a sculptor and self-taught woodworker whose Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, home is a makeshift museum — it’s a pinch-me moment.

“This is beyond my wildest ...Read more

The last time we sold a house was 40 years ago, so we were unfamiliar with the current concept of “staging a house” before selling it. When our youngest daughter and husband mentioned staging their house, we thought live music and refreshments might be involved. Wrong again.

Staging a house means you declutter, deep clean and enter all your...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS -- Julie Koch has seen 31 dogs come and go from her Minneapolis home over the last four years. She’s a foster for Ruff Start Rescue, which cares for animals across Minnesota.

Right now, she’s caring for a lovable 6-year-old white German Shepherd named Stone. He came to her from Texas in 2021 and was adopted in 2022. But in ...Read more

Dear Kid Whisperer,

My question is about snacking. My kids are eating 24/7. We have plenty to do, but everything we do needs a snack to go with it. I also don’t want to give my kids eating complexes. I’m trying to balance it out. I need phrases to get them through to the next meal. We do have a midday snack every day, but they want dessert ...Read more

Q. Although my ex has never been officially diagnosed, she must have some sort of affliction because no one could be as terrible as she is without having something. That’s fine for me. I left her long ago, but my children, who are now adults, constantly complain about her. I can certainly identify with their observations, and I wish I had been...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The wave is all anger and elegance. Shaped like a cursive C, it hurtles toward the Santa Monica shore.

A child on a surfboard balances on its crest. Or at least he tries to.

The boy wipes out. Hard.

But then he pops up in the whitewash, all smiles. His Aqua Surf School instructor is grinning too.

On this happy day, the ...Read more

If Alexander Graham Bell, who is credited with patenting the first telephone, were alive today, he’d be:

(a) On hold.

(b) Getting relentless calls about his car’s extended warranty.

(c) Convinced that my new smartphone has a dumb owner.

The correct answer is:

(d) All of the above.

At least Bell has the good sense not to call me — and...Read more

Dear Anna,

I've been with my girlfriend for eight months, and I'm starting to feel like I'm competing with her phone for her attention — but not in the way you'd expect. She's become obsessed with AI chatbots. At first I thought it was just a novelty thing, but now when she's stressed about work, upset with her family, or even excited about ...Read more

A few weeks ago, I was bound to crutches after fracturing the neck of my femur while running a half-marathon with Image's fashion director at large, Keyla Marquez. This happened right before Paris Fashion Week for the men's spring/summer 2026 season, which we both had plans to attend, and I was left with two options: resign myself to a Frida ...Read more

In the past few months I’ve traveled to an extravagant, loveless wedding on the coast of Rhode Island, a midsize prep school outside Boston, a long, awful, gorgeous goodbye between two soulmates inside Graceful Shepherd Hospice, a retirement community in Maine, a beach-town rental on Cape Cod and a whole bunch of spots in Los Angeles, both ...Read more

As beaches fill up and grills fire up across California for the Fourth of July weekend, the state is offering another way to enjoy the great outdoors — free fishing, no license required. This Saturday, anyone can cast a line in a lake, river or the ocean without spending a dime.

July 5 will mark the first of two free fishing days offered by ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- For a “real lesson in torture,” try calling your local Social Security Administration office with a question.

That’s what Marcia Chestnut, a 62-year-old former housekeeper from Philadelphia, sardonically suggests.

In February, Chestnut — who lives with various disabilities — received a notice from the SSA saying her ...Read more

As a professional in the dating industry, I received a lot of questions over the last week or so about what I thought about the new movie "Materialists." IMDB describes the movie as, “A young, ambitious New York City matchmaker finds herself torn between the perfect match and her imperfect ex.” But, I was less interested in the plot of the ...Read more

It is a prolific bloomer, in the sun or shade and it artistically cascades or tumbles over the rim of hanging baskets and containers. It is the new Surefire Cascade Red begonia, which is making its debut in 2026.

I love it when July arrives, giving me the opportunity to share with you new flowers that we see both in industry and our own ...Read more

CENTRAL CITY, Colo. — On the hillside of a Colorado valley ringed by bygone gold mines, a team of archaeologists-in-training wielding paintbrushes uncovered a buried treasure of their own recently — a 19th-century shoe that may have belonged to a lady of the night.

Jade Luiz, an assistant professor in Metropolitan State University of Denver...Read more

Dear Kid Whisperer,

I just finished a year of teaching the most ungrateful group of students I’ve ever taught. I feel like I spent half of the year telling these second-graders to say “please” and “thank you” and to be appreciative and it did not have any effect. Other teachers have seen this as well, including the first-grade ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Tim Gallaudet is not alone.

Literally, with his five dogs scampering underfoot at his Annapolis home on this particular day, but also cosmically: He believes extraterrestrials fly among us.

That Gallaudet is a retired rear admiral of the Navy and former acting and deputy administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric ...Read more

Turquoise colors the early morning sky as a granddaughter and I leave the house for a doughnut run. We turn out of the neighborhood, zip past the strip mall, clear two stop lights, lean into a roundabout and begin cruising a lovely stretch of road bordered by magnificent estate homes with manicured lawns and swimming pools.

My backseat ...Read more

Q. My biological brother is 17 years younger than me. My parents always said he was a surprise. He is now 8, and we have a very special relationship. I call him “my little buddy.” I am planning to get married this week and while preparing, he asked if I didn’t love him anymore. He knows that I am planning to change my name after I marry ...Read more