Didn’t see this one coming: I thought Shiites were attracted to Hezbollah for its fight against Israel, or its aura of piety, or its social welfare programs. Didn’t know that, […]
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When I was a kid, I was an avid reader of just about anything between two covers, but I had a special place in my heart for encyclopedias. Back in […]
The U.S. Senate passed the health-care overhaul this morning, which means there’s probably only one very risky step left before some sort of reform becomes law: reconciliation of the House […]
President Obama says that saving the financial system has been his greatest accomplishment one year into his first term in office.
Scientists have predicted how far different ecosystems will have to move annually to keep pace with shifting temperature zones.
America will begin drafting plans to sanction Iran through the U.N. Security Council in January with the support of Russia and China.
Iran will launch its new national satellite called Omid (Hope) using rocketry that could carry a nuclear warhead.
The Royal Bank of Scotland is considering selling pieces of its art collection to UK national museums after receiving $73 billion in bailout funds.
Another suicide attack in Peshwar indicates that the real battle over extreme Islam is taking place in Pakistan—not Afghanistan.
Democrats are planning how to reconcile Senate and House versions of healthcare reform now that both chambers have passed their respective bills.
Santa held up a Tennessee bank at gunpoint informing the teller that he needed to pay his elves.
An attendant to the final high-level negotiations in Copenhagen recalls how China deliberately wrecked the conference’s final outcome.
Boeing’s new aircraft is an ambitious engineering feat that sets new standards for air travel in terms of energy efficiency and design—Airbus, eat your heart out.
Bloggers, as most know, are exceptionally lazy people. Mostly, we sit around in our underwear playing flash games. Only occasionally do we get off the sofa to whip off some […]
What is it like to create music, on both a technical and emotional level? This week Big Think presents a fascinating tour inside the mind and heart of one of […]
The poor face a greater health burden than smokers or the obese according to a new study published in the American Journal of Public Health.
The latest astronauts to reach the International Space Station have kicked off a Space-based Christmas by arriving wearing Santa hats, elf costumes and clutching a Christmas tree.
The Lithuanian government’s intelligence agency assisted the CIA in setting up secret prisons in the region according to a parliamentary panel which met yesterday.
Osama Bin Laden’s closest family is reportedly in hiding in a secret compound in Iran. The group allegedly includes his wife and children who disappeared after the 9/11 attacks.
How much real science is there in James Cameron’s science fiction movie “Avatar”? Quite a bit, says MSNBC’s Charles Choi.
Landmark legislation has been passed in the overwhelmingly Catholic Mexico City legalizing marriage between same-sex couples – the first region in Latin America to do so.
Chimpanzees remain remarkably cool when faced with fire and are able to react with “near human ability” to protect themselves under threat from wildfire, according to scientists.
The issue of abortion could still blow up the Democrat’s move to pass a universal health care bill according to pro-life activists and some Republicans.
A verdict on the trial of China’s most prominent dissident will be reached on Christmas day following a hearing which lasted just two hours.
An American Airlines plane has crashed in Jamaica injuring 40 after it overshot the runway, according to aviation authority reports.
Let us now praise Sir Harry Evans. Why not? We thought we knew him, but now we know so much more. Memoir is best when performed by those who did […]
Bloggers, as most know, are exceptionally lazy people. Mostly, we sit around in our underwear playing flash games. Only occasionally do we get off the sofa to whip off some […]
Henrietta Lacks, a thirty-one year old African American mother of five from Baltimore, died of cervical cancer in 1951. By the time she passed away, her cancer cells had been […]
This week’s interviews for What Went Wrong? offers a glimpse into the world of the academy, and its culpability in causing the economic crisis of 2008. We sat down with […]
In a Hollywood that became increasingly politicized (some moviegoers would say “boring”) over the past five years, James Cameron is generally considered a-political. Among the all-time box office kings, the […]