Six seconds unlike any other you’ve ever seen is so worth it. “I saw for the first time the earth’s shape. I could easily see the shores of continents, islands, great […]
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In the wake of the Santa Barbara shootings, in which gunman Elliot Rodger video-recorded his own misogynistic outlook on life, a national conversation began about the state of women in society.
It rose up out of the sea, a fearsome roaring monster unlike anything humans had ever seen, horrible, primeval, unstoppable, towering, breathing radioactive fire and leaving total destruction in […]
SEATTLE – Bono calls economist Jeffrey Sachs “the squeaky wheel that roars.” To me, Sachs is the Bono of economics – a guy with impressive intelligence, passion, and powers of […]
The Eagle has landed. NASA released this image of the roughly 2 million years old (a relatively youthful star cluster) of M16, surrounded by glowing gas and natal clouds of […]
“The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.”
– William James
In a new dance routine, Japanese dance troupe ElevenPlay explores the relationship between the body and technology by dancing with drones programmed by designer Daito Manabe.
Constitutions that grant citizens the right to revolt often do so to legitimize the process by which a new government comes to power. Yet that right tends to come back to bite regimes whose opponents seek legitimacy.
India’s most populous city will experience its first Metro service on Sunday. The line’s first phase, part of a larger project to be finished by 2021, features 12 elevated stations on an 11.4 km stretch of track.
A NASA satellite shut down in 1997 has been commandeered (with the space agency’s permission) by a independent team of scientists and enthusiasts. The ISEE-3 Reboot Project has established communication with the 35-year-old satellite and can now command it to perform basic functions.
iCracked, an app that launched in 2010, allows users with damaged phones to contact and make appointments with nearby technicians.
It’s the greatest cosmic masquerade of all: a star that fakes its own death! “If you are a dreamer come inIf you are a dreamer a wisher a liarA hoper a […]
According to a new study, chimpanzees are at least as good at (if not better) than humans at adjusting strategy choices during competition.
Maybe so, but everything depends on what your faith is grounded on. Begin by recalling the thought experiment English theologian William Paley proposed in 1802: while traipsing across a field, […]
Terminally ill patients in Quebec may now elect to end their lives. The new law comes at a time when national debate on voluntary euthanasia is heating up in Canada.
With low unemployment in the tech sector providing an advantage for the workforce, employers need to be quick with their hiring processes lest they lose out on the most promising potential employees.
This is an updated version of a Scientific American post: In future economics should be seen as more like history than physics. Steven Pinker says, “No sane thinker would try […]
June 6, 1944. Operation Overlord. D-Day. Seventy years later, relatively few survive who actually lived it. People around the world take advantage of their last opportunities to commemorate the anniversary with veterans in attendance.
Look up in the sky, it’s a bird, it’s a plane! It’s comet PanSTARRS C/2012 K1, and NASA snapped this photograph of it crossing the constellation Ursa Major. From NASA: […]
“The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office.”
– Dwight D. Eisenhower
Animated GIFs have emerged as a new form of lexicon for the internet age. A recent museum exhibition highlighted 37 of the most popular reaction GIFs on the internet.
If you’re old enough to remember the 1970s, Lynda Carter playing the title character in the TV show Wonder Woman (shown above) from 1975 to 1979 remains what you think […]
A forgotten almost-hero of the 19th century still has something to teach about science… and style. “There is nothing more contemptible than a bald man who pretends to have hair.” –Martial […]
No, this is not a still from David Lynch’s Dune. But it could be! The Cat’s Eye Nebula, or NGC 6543, is one of the better known planetary nebulae for […]
“He who fights against monsters should see to it that he does not become a monster in the process. And when you stare persistently into an abyss, the abyss also stares into you.”
– Friedrich Nietzsche
In my last post, I talked a bit about the fundamental purpose of technology: reducing uncertainty. Uncertainty is a double edged sword in the human experience – it provides us […]
Mikael Genberg wants to put a little red cottage on the moon. The ambitious project, according to a supportive team of scientists and engineers, would serve as an inspiring symbol to and for humanity.
Do you want to be more effective and attract desired outcomes? The ancient Chinese did, too. They devoted themselves to understanding wu wei—effortless action, or spontaneity. They saw it as […]
Las Vegas. A young man, about 22, fist pumps an oversized beer mug out of the passenger seat window. Rookie move. A strip cop spots the amateur, flicks on his […]
An important difference between persuasion and manipulation is that persuasion is done with people and manipulation is done to them. Like all dishonest people, manipulators habitually underestimate the people they […]