Why Cars Are Considered Lame in Japan
PhD student at MIT Media Lab
Ryan Chin outlines the other revolutionary green vehicles under development at MIT Media Lab that have the potential to alter urban transportation.
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The promise and thrill of discovery are what keep scientists going in spite of endless frustration. Watch
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Series
What if you could bid on a parking spot eBay-style? Bill Mitchell explains his plan to revolutionize urban mobility. This series is sponsored by Beyond the Edge (beyondtheedge.org). Watch
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Our ears do more than hear. They can sense when someone is stressed, relaxed, or angry, and they can recognize the shininess of bathroom walls. Watch
Featured Blogs
Politeia
March 10, 2010 — 3:51 PM
Bloggers are talking today about a striking chart comparing the foods we should be eating with the foods the government subsidizes. The chart, originally published in 2007 by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), shows two side-by-side food pyramids. On the right is a version of the standard food pyramid, showing federal nutrition recommendations—that we should have 11 servings of grain a day, 9 servings of fruits and vegetables, 6 servings of high protein foods like meat and dairy products, and small amounts of things like sugar, oil, and salt. On the left is a pyramid showing the extent to which we subsidize each of those food groups. Read more
Trend World
March 10, 2010 — 2:42 PM
How Much Does God Make Our Decisions For Us?
The prevailing wisdom among millions of people on this planet is that God governs everything that happens. That idea about God has been a source of debate for some time now, but if we can’t agree on which god does what on this planet, we are starting to learn that, even if God doesn’t control the universe, He/She does govern the way we all make decisions. Read more
Focal Point
March 10, 2010 — 12:59 PM
Rep. Bart Stupak is being coy. On Monday, the anti-choice Democrat told a town hall meeting that there was "no such thing as compromise" on abortion funding under health care reform. Yet, in the next breath, he said he was "more optimistic than [he] was a week ago" that some kind of deal could be worked out. Read more
The View From Europe
March 10, 2010 — 10:38 AM
One art historian has shown that Caravaggio (of “Bacchus” fame) now dominates the annals of Italian art instead of the world’s favorite Renaissance sculptor and painter. Read more
Resurgence
March 10, 2010 — 2:53 AM
Cisco's New Router Precursor To Web 3.0
My soon-to-be seventy year old father called me around dinnertime on Saturday. He was having a problem adding some text to his website, he said, and wanted me to take a look at it. This is one of those rare times in our father-son relationship when he is willing to give up the position of authority and take direct instructions from his progeny. While I was fiddling with the HTML code to get the new text out of the footer of his site and into the body of the page where it belonged, he casually mentioned “I’m thinking about adding a video.” Which means that the announcement Cisco made last night about its new CRS-3 Carrier Routing system, a new generation of internet routers capable of transmitting data at three times the speed of its fastest available model, is getting here right on time. Read more
Daily Ideafeed
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Power Challenge
Loosening Pelosi - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s grip on power appears to be loosening as in recent weeks she has faced a series of subtle but significant challenges to her authority, Politico reports.
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Best Leader Oscar
Recip Erdogan Wins - Global Post’s Michael Goldfarb awards the Oscar for best world leader to…Turkey’s Recip Erdogan, who he says is the most outstanding democratic leader in the world today.
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Answering Deniers
Cure for Autism? - Author and model Jenny McCarthy has blogged a defense of a controversial “cure” for children who suffer from autism, asking, “Who’s afraid of the truth about autism?”
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Pivoting
Parent’s Buildings - Claude Parent’s new Paris-based exhibition re-establishes him as a pivotal force in European architecture after decades of neglect, writes The New York Times.
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Sex Over 75
Generation Viagra - Four in 10 men over the age of 75 are still having sex—or so they say—despite only two in 10 women 75 or older claiming the same, according to a new survey.
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Deforestation
Impact Crater? - The stripping away of forests in Africa’s Democratic Republic of Congo has uncovered a 36-46 kilometer wide circular phenomenon thought to be a giant impact crater.
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Emission Statement
Outsourced Pollution - Who bears the responsibility for the “outsourced emissions” generated by countries who consume vast quantities of goods that are manufactured overseas?
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Building Plans
Unfortunate Timing? - Heavily criticised revelations about an east Jerusalem building plan announced during US Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to Israel have been dismissed by officials as “bad timing.”
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If Only…
Financial Funnies - If only financial reform was as funny as the comedy sketches being played out on popular comedy website funnyordie.com sighs The Washington Post’s Katrina vanden Heuvel.
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$ Applications
Facebook Economy - With investors leapfrogging on the back of social networking and making investments heavily reliant on Facebook, a Guardian blogger asks “How big is the Facebook economy?”
