The stories come in surprising ways. An unexpected confession over a meal or a few drinks. A warning, perhaps, to keep your distance from a particular person before a conference. […]
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If you actually look at Facebook’s effect on our brains, it’s like taking a drug. The problem, according to Jonathan Harris, is that with software that makes you come back over and over again, you become the product.
41 million Americans sleep fewer than six hours each night. But it wasn’t always this way.
At this year’s TED Conference, entrepreneur Elon Musk confidently predicted that, in the end, “solar will beat everything.” All it will take for the solar energy revolution to become a reality is […]
What motivated the perpetrators of the carnage at the Boston Marathon on Monday? Authorities area step closerto identifying those responsible, and we may eventually learn why they decided to detonate […]
A team at the University of Illinois claims their design could lead to microbatteries that deliver the same power as normal-sized ones, as well as normal-sized batteries that are exponentially more powerful.
Teddy Goff will be appearing on Big Think to discuss how the lessons of digital politics can be applied, albeit in smaller scale, to your life or your business.
An MIT engineer has designed a system that links phones together wirelessly, creating a network of shared cameras and, potentially, thousands of different photos to choose from.
The Center for Perceptual Systems at The University of Texas at Austin has just released a free web-app that will denoise and enlarge photos in a heartbeat to an extent […]
Without any perspective on how the Earth has behaved over different periods when it was at those temperatures, I don’t think people really appreciate the seriousness of the issue.
Yes, it has come to this: A researcher has created a system that uses a depth-sensing camera to detect obstacles and displays warnings via a message on your smartphone screen.
Scientists borrowed the latching ability of the spiny-headed worm to create a microneedle device that is over three times stronger than staples and easier to remove, making it ideal for delicate skin grafts.
From Newton to Einstein to quantum physicists today, Smolin writes, “I believe–as strongly as one can believe anything in science–that they’re wrong.”
There’s still time to sign up for the International Space Apps Challenge, in which participants will attempt to provide creative answers to 50 current scientific and technological problems.
Post-rationalist government—where laws and regulations conform to human psychology rather than to the notion that each individual is a logical calculator—is a hot idea these days. Next to old-school policies […]
Two scientists conducted a “thought experiment” using the popular computer science law and came up with some interesting and controversial possibilities on the true origins of species.
Five percent of the world’s CO2 emissions come as a result of holiday travel. Two researchers are looking into ways to encourage vacationers to reduce their carbon footprint by using social media to share rides and information.
It’s hard to absorb and write about stories that break your heart. When I saw the headline about Rehtaeh Parsons, who was gang-raped when she was 15 and committed suicide […]
If the current growth rate continues, the global demand for petroleum will double in the next 40-50 years. According to the IEA we will need to introduce more than 30% […]
According to recent figures, a full 61 percent of the country is experiencing drought conditions, almost double the amount in 2011. Some are warning of a coming “megadrought” in the western US.
It’s hard to walk down a grocery aisle these days and not notice the many food labels that shout out “Rich in Antioxidants!” or “Good source of Antioxidants!” or “Fights […]
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 – […]
As the rainy season begins, even more of the mollusks are expected to emerge from hibernation and start munching…on plants, stucco, plaster, and even concrete.
Monday’s twin blasts occurred at a time when more people than ever use social media. Authorities hope the photos and videos that bombarded the Internet in the moments following the attack will prove useful in their search.
CrowdMed, launched Tuesday, is one of several Web-based platforms that anyone can use to help diagnose mystery conditions.
In disagreeing, be specific, targeted, focused and also positive.
For the foreseeable future, ‘terrorism’ will be the default term immediately applied to any act of public violence. While some warned against jumping to conclusions in regards to yesterday’s tragedy […]
What scares me most is how we start to think the way the technology wants us to think.
These 7 apps have what it take to turn your tablet into a powerful academic tool.
A new style of writing reflects the assumption that people take in information in little chunks and nuggets and don’t really have the ability to immerse themselves in the text and pay attention.