All Articles

A unique history is what distinguishes one family from another, and knowing a family’s distinct set of stories is what binds the group together. While social media connects the larger society, genealogical work is what connects us to our own small group.

Researchers believe the use of aspirin is better for the management of blood clots over a long period of time than traditional anti-clotting drugs prescribed. 

We don’t know what the future will bring in terms of enhancement. But to be fundamentally opposed to it is to fundamentally opposed to the future of medical science. 

With a new discovery in a gene vital to the success in male fertility, researchers are investigating the possibility of its function as a contraceptive.

If you were to guess the macroeconomic variable that had the widest impact on sexual behavior over the past fifty years, what would you choose? Personally, I would choose the […]

Instead of differentiating people on the basis of their “religion” (as Christians, Muslims, Hindus, etc.), what if we differentiated people according to their temporal orientation? We could divide people into […]

 Last year, a small number of governments including the United States joined the Open Government Partnership to promote openness and improved engagement with their citizens. 42 new countries joined the partnership at a recent conference in Brazil attended by Hillary Clinton.

Since the industrial revolution, humanity has flocked to the cities, where jobs are plentiful and centralized services make inhabitants’ lives easier. However, technology is gradually beginning to reverse this trend. […]

Alternative banks are increasingly popular in the US, though Europe still leads the way. Community credit unions are helping to enrich community businesses while making profit. 

Given the ubiquity of the achievement lobby, underachievement is actually no easy thing to grasp. But has it ever occurred to you to try for something less than your best in order to be happy?

South Africa’s president, Jacob Zuma, was recently portrayed with his penis hanging out, by the very talented satirical artist Brett Murray. The piece, entitled The Spear, features President Zuma standing […]

On Tuesday, May 22, I delivered a lecture as part of the National Academies’ Sackler Colloquium on the “Science of Science Communication,” reviewing the role of the media in science […]

During my last trip to San Francisco, I reported on my discovery of a woman who receives messages from God in his actual handwriting. I’m amused to report that I’ve […]

In this week’s edition of the New Scientist magazine, I have a commentary article on the UK controversy over genetically modified wheat and the lobbying efforts in the U.S. to […]

“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” asks the gospel of Mark. Verily, I know not. But in […]

What’s the Big Idea? All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree.” – Albert Einstein In the latest RSA Animate production, Manuel Lima explores the power of […]

What is the Big Idea? Voters in Egypt went to the polls today for day two of the country’s presidential election. Kate Woodsome from Voice of America, Asia curated Tweets, Twitpics and […]

What could it mean to say that the self is an illusion? Here’s Bruce Hood, author of the new book The Self Illusion, in an interview at Sam Harris’ joint: […]

We’ve all noticed it – on television and the social web, an increase in politically partisan polemic and cultural isolationism. This “us vs. them” mentality doesn’t reflect the best of America, past or present, says author and  essayist Marilynne Robinson.  

Call it art, experimental philosophy, theater, or what you will – Jonathan Keats plays the fool as a kind of public protest against the ever-present danger of taking ourselves and our understanding of the world too seriously.

By linking a single ion with a single proton, physicists at the University of Innsbruck have established the first quantum interface between quantum processors and optical information channels. 

Jonathan Pryce is the complete actor, able to shape-shift, seemingly without effort, from a charming Mephistopheles (Mr. Dark in Something Wicked This Way Comes), to a hapless, heartbreaking everyman (Sam […]

First of all, I am not an analyst nor do I own any stock in any public company. The last time I did invest in a promising Internet company ended […]

Science fiction writer Elizabeth Moon discusses whether universal identification markers would make future wars less bloody by allowing soldiers to better identify innocent bystanders. 

A new medical device developed by engineers at MIT can inject drugs into the body without using a needle. Benefits include improving patient compliance rates and preventing accidental pricks. 

Like San Francisco’s iconic cable cars, a new system of cable trucks is set to be installed between the port of Long Beach and Los Angeles, cutting emissions by as much as 30%. 

Art isn’t usually a life or death matter, but the controversy over South African artist Brett Murray’s The Spear (detail shown above) might end in bloodshed. When Murray decided to […]

It’s easy to see why, for most of human history, a creative insight was thought of as a divine spirit that came from “some distant and unknowable source, for distant […]

SpaceX’s successful rocket launch is the proof of concept not only for private space missions but for an entirely new economy based on taking individuals and businesses to and from space. 

After SpaceX’s successful rocket launch, its founder is riding high. But the space visionary nearly went broke investing nearly all his money into the company after selling PayPal.