Recall Anthony Comstock (1844-1915), America’s “archprude” and upholder of Victorian morality. Comstock devoted his life to denouncing art he deemed “obscene, lewd or indecent.” In response to a New York […]
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One of cartography’s most persistent myths: mapmakers of yore, frustrated by the world beyond their ken, marked the blank spaces on their maps with the legend Here be monsters. It’s […]
While I consider myself to be a rational person and believe there is validity in most of these claims (except the first), I actually think the coming apocalypse may have already arrived . . .
We have a blind spot when it comes to predicting our own moral and ethical behavior, but new research suggests we are better, not worse, when part of a crowd.
Nothing says I Love You like exsanguination, whipping, and the sweet nothing whispered in the ear of a mutual pledge not to machete each other to death. Or so an […]
The neuroscience of creativity is flourishing. But will the popularity of this subject lead to better, or sloppier science?
What’s The Big Idea? Scientists have given animals consciousness. Not through complex manipulation of the brain or through genetic manipulation, but by publicly acknowledging the consensus, for the first time […]
Willpower is a limited resource easily drained by everyday activity.
A closer look at the cartography of the famous Disney ride
An ill-timed African vacation (to shoot at elephants) has landed Spain’s royal family in hot water with the public. At what point do cultural traditions themselves become anachronistic?
However hard most political leaders try, almost whatever they do in an attempt to look fashionable and plugged into the real lives of voters, it never seems to quite work. […]
Today the Friends of Yemen met in Riyadh. One of the key issues, as it often is at these meetings, is that of foreign aid. Several days ago a group […]
Between the ages of five and eight month, infants develop surprisingly complex moral attitudes, considering the context of an action when determining whether it is right or wrong.
Engineers have used carbon nanotubes to create artificial muscle that moves like an elephant’s trunk, which could be used to propel microscopic nanobots through the bloodstream.
Ah, New Year’s Eve: It feels so important to find something significant, meaningful, memorable to do. And then two weeks later you can’t recall what it was, because it was […]
National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is drawing to a close, and with it the brave and caffeine-addled efforts of over 200,000 writers worldwide. Unabashedly privileging “enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking […]
A new Pew survey reveals that as the economy shows signs of a modest recovery, public belief in climate change may be on the rise. Understanding how climate change perceptions […]
I finally found one word to describe Memory as Medicine, the Radcliffe Bailey exhibition I saw last Saturday – colossal. More than mere paint on canvas, the huge multimedia selections […]
If the first industrial revolution was all about mass manufacturing and machine power replacing manual labor, the First Industrial Evolution will be about the ability to evolve your personal designs […]
After winning the Iowa straw poll and becoming the early leader for the GOP nod for the 2012 presidential race, Michele Bachmann (shown above, on the left) might be looking […]
I can’t lie. Every polysyllabic word like “maximalist” that President Obama uttered on his Ground Force One tour this week grated on my nerves. And yet, despite using the type […]
Robert Kaplan’s op-ed on Patrick Leigh Fermor in the New York Times, “The Humanist in the Foxhole,” stands alone as a cool piece of writing worth studying. Kaplan writes: Unlike […]
Scientists have found that certain fish with complex brain functions are evolving at a relatively quick rate—will humans’ similarly complex brains inspire new species to evolve?
Elephant Conservation Center After an intense week of late nights working and fast-paced assignments, several members of our cohort took a needed reprieve Saturday to visit the beloved and endangered […]
A number of responses to my post on mental illness and civil rights deserve some further thought. A number of people have pointed to the variance in definitions of mental […]
In the 35 years since I got my first job teaching writing, a few new tools that make writing easier have been invented. I used a retractable fountain pen, one of […]
Animal smuggling has grown to a $9.8 billion-a-year criminal industry, and is exceeded only by the drugs and arms trades. Profits help to fund terrorism and civil wars, says The Independent.
When combat veterans tell their battle tales, the stories often are laced with themes of heroism, sacrifice and loyalty. But guilt also takes a heavy mental toll.
Ken Gronbach writes on CNBC.com that “Aging Boomers Could Spell Big Trouble for Walmart.” If true, this really is disruptive demographics when the world’s largest company is thought to be […]
Everybody, meet Kergolus. This little furry thing is a geo-mascot, shaped like the territory it symbolises. Top marks if you’re able to guess which territory that is, either by the […]