Voter turnout in U.S. presidential elections tends to be lower than other developed democracies and relative to the number of eligible voters., Voter turn-out for those ages 18 to 24 […]
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I’d be remiss if I let 2011 slip by without a tribute to Elizabeth Bishop (1911–1979), who was born a century ago and who now looms larger over contemporary poetry […]
The inventor of a new machine that decodes D.N.A. with semiconductors is one of several pursuing the goal of a $1,000 human genome—2013 is the industry’s new target date.
Apple’s patent war rages on against Samsung and Google but in what sense has something been stolen from Apple? Timothy Lee says strict patent laws harm the common good.
Will the conflict between intellectual property and the value of sharing knowledge be resolved?
The world’s population is about to reach seven billion. Can we handle that many humans, let alone the three billion more expected to be added by the end of this century?
‘Tis the season to be savvy. Here’s a round-up of Big Thinkers’ favorite tech ideas for simplifying – and beautifying – your holiday.
When did the world turn so “inappropriate?” It seems to be getting more so by the year. Inappropriate’s already appeared 26,200,000 times in 2011 on Google-indexed material. In 2010, it […]
When we habituate to something, our physical and psychological response becomes so used to it that whatever the “it” is stops being arousing.
Postponed by the threat of hurricane Irene, the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial will open soon in Washington D.C. How is the leader’s dream interpreted by contemporary America?
New online exchanges aim to turn computer capacity into a globally traded commodity. Already there’s a new crop of startup companies called “cloud brokerages.”
If you ever want to make even the most cosmopolitan of your friends speechless, telling them you have volunteered to travel to Newark, New Jersey, so you can masturbate to orgasm in an fMRI is a great way to start. Once they overcome the shock, chances are they will start to ask questions. Most I was able to answer.
Last week when the Egyptians voted in an open election for the first time in decades, having won the right to this inspirational exercise of democracy by standing up […]
While walking in Fairmount Park in 1872 with his minister father, 12-year-old Henry Ossawa Tanner saw a man painting and became curious about art. His family fed that curiosity, which […]
What do Asian men and African American women have in common? Both are searching for love in very competitive marriage markets and, according to market forecasters, individuals in these groups […]
Researchers have found a way to shrink the size of the medical lab to the size of a microchip, using advances from nanotechnology to pave the way for radically new […]
I’m back! As you may know, I’ve spent the last three days in Springfield, Missouri, having a blast at Skepticon IV. The convention was a weekend of great talks that […]
My previous post quoted Peter Hitchens, the conservative Christian brother of the late Christopher Hitchens, to criticize some of his views on divine command morality. To my surprise, it drew […]
–Guest post by Faizullah Jan, American University doctoral student. Single Page View “We are the 99%,” proclaim the protesters participating in the Occupy Wall Street marches and sit-ins. Without a […]
Clinical trials show marijuana might be useful for pain, nausea and weight loss in cancer and HIV/AIDS and for muscle spasms in multiple sclerosis. But research funding is sparse.
This semester I am teaching a doctoral seminar on the important questions and trends related to media, technology and democracy. In this post, I introduce several major topics and provide […]
If you know the name of artist Chris Burden, you probably think pain: shooting, electrocution, and even crucifixion. Although Burden ended his agonizing exploits over 35 years ago, those performance […]
If you’re in the north of England and you’re in a town ending in -by, you’re in former Danish-ruled territory [1]. If the toponym starts with beau- or bel-, it […]
I recently participated in a “relationship summit” on break ups. I don’t know how wise or helpful I was. When it comes to break-up and heartache recovery, I’m not sure […]
The genetic mutation that drives evolution is random. But here’s a list of some beneficial mutations that are known to exist in human beings
We become high achievers by working on something important—all the while procrastinating doing something even more important.
This paper, published online yesterday in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, introduces a new term to neuroscience: The FBN, or “Facebook number.” Your Facebook number is, of course, […]
Just when you think a contemporary art megastar such as Damien Hirst has done his worst to make a mockery of the modern art world, he finds a new weapon […]
My last post, following the lead of David Brooks and Rod Dreher, was about giving the argument for “communitarian conservatism” in the context of Dreher’s decision to move back to […]
When you think of Burberry, do you think of prim and proper English models wearing plaid coats or do you think of beautiful exotic scantily clad holographic models walking on […]