The demographic of “Ph.D.-holding, football fiend women who listen to their local call-in sports shows” is probably small. So I wasn’t the intended audience for theDr. Pepper 10 commercial that […]
All Articles
University of Chicago researchers have found that words in our native tongue carry more emotional impact than words in a second language, influencing how we make important decisions.
Biomedical gerontologist Aubrey de Grey likens the human body to a VW bug. In the future, medicine will enable us to replace our aging parts, extending life far beyond current limits.
The psychological phenomenon known as fundamental attribution error describes our tendency to locate the cause of mistakes outside ourselves yet blame others personally.
Researchers have found a way to unclog obstructed blood vessels, leading to heart attacks and strokes, by the use of a low-dose drug delivery system.
Through a collaboration of studies researchers have identified a parasite they believe is linked to suicide in women.
What’s the Big Idea? My brother-in-law, a tenured professor at Osgood law school in Toronto, sent me an article yesterday. “This will interest you. Anne-Marie is a rockstar academic!” The […]
I can’t shake this feeling that access to online dating is actually making it more difficult for men and women to find love. I know that sounds counterintuitive, especially from […]
Genetic engineers have penned a report on why genetically-modified food is dangerous.
Anxiety rates have risen in our country for the last four decades. Sociologists blame the increased number of choices we have and the failure of the mythical American meritocracy.
A recent study indicates social networks such as Facebook and Twitter can effect health behaviors in humans.
A slate of surveys suggesting that sex has become less of a priority to Americans mask a sinister commercialism, which companies use to suggest their product is better than sex.
Historically, most people have worried a lot about demons. In fact, while we are accustomed to think of pre-modern history as an age characterized by belief in God, it may […]
Recently, the FDA approved a home HIV testing kit to purchase over-the-counter.
The Supreme Court has helped define two kinds of patriotism: One which defends against outside intruders and one which promotes the common good. We need more of the latter.
Is religion the only thing that can inspire feelings of a transcendent hope? Perhaps that is the wrong question. Do we even need hope to live? British philosopher Julian Baggini responds.
For Safraz Manzoor, a father of a 10 month-old daughter, most of the “advice” he received came in the form of societal expectations. Now he opens up about what fatherhood is really like.
Intervening on the great Crooked Timber vs. Bleeding Hearts Libertarians debate on freedom in the workplace, Matthew Yglesias says: My standard approach to this is that in almost all political contexts, including this one, both […]
Mind reading devices that can alert soldiers to things they’ve seen, but that their brains aren’t yet aware of, could save lives. Some scientists worry it could also extend the theater of war.
The big news this week is that the Large Hadron Collider, the massive particle accelerator at the European physics lab CERN, has apparently discovered the elusive and long-sought subatomic particle […]
In question is nothing less than the nature of literature from an evolutionary perspective.
It’s a big challenge being a spiritual teacher in a secular culture. What could be more disconcerting than being a religious authority in a world where there is no consensus […]
If you think of all of the greatest viral campaigns in the world, you’d struggle to think of many from Asia. But that doesn’t mean people aren’t trying, and you […]
Competition is driving companies to automate more and more middle-class jobs. Sectors of the economy like legal research and nursing are being “hallowed out” says an MIT economist.
This post is an introductory framework for moral infanticide. Before we can even discuss cases of ending an infant’s life for non-medical reasons, we must understand why infants’ lives can […]
By optimizing technologies currently on the market, cars will soon be unclogging traffic jams more efficiently than humans can. After the jam is cleared, control of the car is returned to the driver.
By storing quantum data, or qubits, inside a specially-made diamond, researchers have made a technological breakthrough that should allow for a host of real-world quantum applications.
Any doomsday prophet worth her salt will tell you about the coming water wars. But with the help of nanotechnology, desalination could become far less energy-intensive, i.e. cheaper.
The Higgs boson has helped scientists confirm that there exists a vast, though nearly invisible, field of energy without which all the Universe would be massless whizzing forces.
Matt Yglesias replies to an argument from Mike Konczal: Mike Konczal has a fairly compelling argument that it would make sense to dismantle the entire crazy quilt of “submerged state” […]