The New Republic

The National Basketball Association playoffs start this coming weekend, running until the finals in early June. In recent years, the NBA has been heavily criticized for the quality of its referees, with many fans suggesting that the league is biased towards larger-market, more popular teams, like the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics. READ MORE >>

Earlier this month, the FBI uploaded hundreds of archived reports about UFO sightings and investigations to its new "Vault." (Other topics in the Vault include the FBI's fight with the KKK and the 1997 shooting of rapper Notorious B.I.G.) Though the most famous documents, such as the Hottel memo, have been publicly avail READ MORE >>

This morning, news broke that social-networking giant Facebook has signed a deal with Chinese search engine Baidu to develop a Chinese social networking service. The deal is a winner for both sides: Facebook is currently blocked in China, while Baidu has been unable to translate its dominance of the search engine market into similar success in social networking. READ MORE >>

This weekend, the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C. wraps up, with organizers promising that Saturday's Cherry Blossom Parade will go ahead even if the federal government shuts down. READ MORE >>

Today sees the theatrical release of the documentary Born to be Wild 3D, which chronicles the rescue and rehabilitation of orphaned animals. The story move back and forth between primatologist Dr. Birute Galdikas, caring for orangutans in Borneo, and "celebrated elephant authority" Dame Daphne Sheldrick, caring for, well, elephants in Kenya. READ MORE >>

Another week, another American Idol ratings victory. READ MORE >>

On Tuesday, grunge fans everywhere marked the 17th anniversary of the suicide of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. Cobain's suicide marked a tragic end to the almost-overnight success of Nirvana, widely credited as one of the most important bands in popularizing alternative rock in the early 1990s. Since their debut, Nirvana have sold over 50 million albums worldwide, confirming that the band is hardly a niche taste. Besides a love of flannel, though, do Nirvana lovers have anything else in common? READ MORE >>

Every month, it seems, brings a new study claiming a fruit or a vegetable prevents cancer. Today, researchers from Ohio State University unveiled findings that strawberries may prevent esophageal cancer. Don't rush off to your local grocery store just yet, though: the study only had 36 participants, no control group, and has not been peer-reviewed. READ MORE >>

This week, British entrepreneur Richard Branson unveiled his latest gadget: a winged submarine that he and others will pilot to the deepest parts of the world's oceans, including the Marinas Trench. And earlier today, he became the first person to truthfully tweet, "My other ride's a spaceship." An enviable life, to say the least, which leaves aspiring entrepreneurs asking: is entrepreneurship a natural or acquired ability? READ MORE >>

Words with Friends, one of the most popular word games on the internet, has just received a new upgrade. The update to "the excellent cross-platform Scrabble ripoff," writes Gizmodo's Kyle VanHemert, "[brings] a variety of bug fixes, full multitasking support, and, most majorly, Facebook Connect integration. READ MORE >>