We all know that infinite growth on a finite planet is impossible. No secret there. We can’t keep growing the way we have been over the last decades or centuries […]
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When Fisher v. University of Texas is decided in the next few days, Justice Anthony Kennedy may cast the decisive vote ending affirmative action as we know it. Unless he doesn’t.
I won’t propose an answer to this hugely complex question today. Instead, I want to point out some striking similarities between the American perspective on the conflict in Chechnya a […]
Solar-powered calculators have been around for decades, but scientists have yet to come up with a smartphone equivalent. However, one company is working on a solar cell that could extend existing battery life.
Organic Transit’s ELF is a single-seat three-wheeler that is a cross between a bicycle and an electric car. They could start appearing in bike lanes in a matter of months.
Not all vitamins are good for all people, all the time. In fact, some can kill you. And guess what? We know where the bodies are buried.
Modernism first moved on May 29, 1913. That’s century-old hyperbole, of course, but if any date achieves day of infamy status for modern art in the 20th century, it’s the […]
To Orthodox Jews, eruvin are a crucial component to their faith. To everybody else, it is as if they didn’t even exist
What can math be used for? Here’s a wise answer: two basic forms of geometry are used in almost every engineering project and every physics discovery that has ever been made.
“The accuracy of our memories is not measured in how vivid they are nor how certain you are that they’re correct.”
It’s graduation season and young people everywhere are listening to speeches rife with promises of new beginnings. With one baby boomer turning 67 every seven to eight seconds, many older […]
A new paper suggests that it’s much easier to detect oxygen in the atmospheres of planets orbiting white dwarf stars, which are dimmer than the Sun.
Close to one-fifth of the world has no access to a power grid, and for many others, access is spotty and inconsistent. A New York startup now offers an affordable, lightweight solution.
There has been much chatter recently about the new found potential of “big data”. Google NGram for example, tracks usage of words in books and Google Flu Trends does what it says on the […]
Ross Douthat, the only conservative columnist for the New York Times, reports some good news and some bad news. The good: The Americans are becoming less criminal and less violent. […]
Editor’s Note: I recently read and subsequently tweeted about Submergence, the new novel by J.M. Ledgard. Then I asked one of the smartest people I know – Brian O’Neill – […]
Recently, I’ve reconnected with some old friends. We’ve had the experience of immediately meeting each other at a very deep level despite having parted ways and not seen each other […]
Too often, readers finish popular books on decision making with the false conviction that they will decide better.
Kepler 37-B is about the size of our moon, yet is a little too close to its parent star for human comfort.
By selling rechargeable lanterns to people living in areas with little or no access to electricity, San Francisco-based d.light represents increased investor attention to “the junction between development work, renewable energy and profit-driven business.”
In response to my recent post, “The Bright Side of Globalization,” my friend and colleague Jean Houston sent me an excerpt from her book Jump Time entitled, “Wok and Roll in […]
Some good news for once: The European Science Agency reports that the hole is now smaller than it’s been at any time in the last decade.
Hey all, I have a couple of commitments that have been demanding a lot of my time this week, so blogging has been light. Bear with me – I’ll be […]
Not only do they tell you to slow down — by means of changing colors — they can even communicate with your friends via a text message if you won’t pay attention.
A study found that the difference in erratic nighttime driving between subjects who were given coffee and subjects who were exposed to continuous blue light was negligible.
How can a uniquely Shakespearean habit of mind can be applied to our own lives in order to help us think more creatively?
By some accounts, last year’s move of the Barnes Foundation from its original home to the new location on Philadelphia’s Benjamin Franklin Parkway marked the last stroke in the fall […]
Data is an abstraction of real life, and real life can be complicated, but if you gather enough context, you can at least put forth a solid effort to make sense of it.
Although the exoplanets themselves may have a high proportion of rock, the atmospheric layer is so deep, hot, and hydrogen-rich that they may never become Earth-like.
To wit, it is time to abolish the IRS.