Guest Thinkers — December 21, 2010

One more

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

You can hear both Greg and I on this segment of today’s The World, on PRI.

We are talking about Yemen, in case you were wondering.

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

Starts With A Bang

Our Universe has more galaxies than Carl Sagan ever imagined

Forget billions and billions. When it comes to the number of galaxies in the Universe, both theorists’ and observers’ estimates are too low.

Starts With A Bang

Most planets in the Universe are orphans without parent stars

Known as orphaned planets, rogue planets, or planets without parent stars, these “outliers” might be the most common type of planet overall.

Illustration of a person standing on a ladder inside a large head with a maze-like brain exposed, symbolizing introspection or exploration of the mind.

Neuropsych

Is teaching psychology a waste of time?

When appraising human behavior, people tend to forgo the lessons of psychology in favor of assumption and anecdote.

The letters "AI" appear with a glitch effect in multicolored pixels against a black background.

The Present

AI skeptic Gary Marcus on AI’s moral and technical shortcomings

The cognitive scientist argues the current AI environment is failing us as consumers and a society. But it’s not too late to change course.

A digital illustration of a human brain with blue veins and a glowing light at the top, set against a black background.

The Future

How Neuralink’s chief competitor is tapping into the brain without surgery

“Neurotech is not just about the brain,” says Synchron CTO Riki Banerjee, explaining how their tech can help with paralysis, brain diseases, and beyond.

Up Next

Guest Thinkers

Tuesday Papers: or Al-Qaeda sentencing guidelines

Al-Sharq al-Awsat and al-Quds al-Arabi both devote their coverage of Yemen to yesterday’s death sentence handed down to the six al-Qaeda suspects. Following the sentencing it seems as though the […]