Obviously, people’s priorities differ. But it’s fair to say that culturally speaking, the United States leans in the direction of intense productivity at the expense of time spent reading a good book, or in the company of friends and family.
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If ideas are the currency of the future, then books are still the best way to trade these ideas with others. To celebrate the 600th blog post of Endless Innovation, I’ve put together […]
Here’s a distinguished political scientist—Jacqueline Stevens—who agrees with me that the NSF ought to cut the funding for political science. The Republicans in Congress think that these “scientists” are covertly […]
Egypt has a civilian president. For most of us….so what. These are distant events, physically and emotionally, without much meaning and certainly with little personal relevance for […]
You’d think that a giant retrospective at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC would, at least momentarily, make George Bellows the king of the art ring. But once […]
Forgive me, but this is not a post about neuroscience. Rather, this is a post about conservation and loss. Today, the Charles Darwin Research Station in the Galapagos Islands confirmed […]
The Matrix is real… and everyone here at NASA for the GSP has taken the red pill. If you recall in the movie, Neo is startled, puzzled, and quite frankly […]
A spending and income report shows American’s spent less on “big ticket” items in May. Experts believe consumer spending will continue to be “sluggish” for months to come.
China is ahead in its effort in “stopgap” measures by building an average of one coal power plant every week. Clean coal burning is what nations have been turning to in order to help keep carbon dioxide levels down.
Another round of discussions between the United States and Iran did not pan out as hoped for by all parties involved. The two countries cannot come to a consensus, leading many to wonder what’s next.
Despite the political issues and the economic slowdown in China, it is still a growing country. Experts believe its economy will continue to remain strong for a while.
The plug has recently been pulled on Stuxnet, which is one of the most powerful computer viruses to be launched and aimed at Iran. However, cyber security experts worry that others of its type will surface.
The smallest sprout shows there is really no death, And if ever there was it led forward life, and does not wait at the end to arrest it, And ceas’d […]
To lesbian mothers everywhere I have this to say – welcome to the community of second-rate parents. Don’t worry, you won’t be lonely here. You will have lots of company […]
Longtime readers of this blog may remember that I wrote a book some time ago. What happened to it is something I’ve only alluded to a few times. Suffice to […]
There are so many great articles in the July/August issue of The Atlantic that I could pretty much blog on it alone for the rest of year. But the most […]
IBM computer engineers are making progress toward a cognitive computational model by combining our current knowledge of neuroscience, supercomputing and nanotechnology.
What evolution and computer science have taught us is that comprehension is not required for competence. Similarly, the human mind may not be so mysterious as is often thought.
Facebook stocks are tanking, for now. Its membership growth is outstripping its revenue growth. And they keep changing the damned interface. What’s a social network organizer to do? Watching the […]
By using magnetic fields to disrupt local brain regions, scientists have recreated the kinds of distractions that happen in daily life. It turns out these distractions greatly color our perceptions.
In the aftermath of the House Oversight committee vote to hold United States Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress, I’ve been pretty dejected these last couple of days. […]
Human behavior does not follow strict cost-benefit analyses, especially when it comes to being honest. Psychologist Dan Ariely explains the more complex rules individuals follow.
To live in society, we must predict how other people will make decisions. Japanese scientists are beginning to reveal how the brain does that, potentially improving our social systems.
I just finished reading “Leading technology-rich schools: Award-winning models for success” written by Barbara B. Levin and Lynne Schrum. This is a great book for those wanting concrete examples of […]
Today’s “visiting professor” Walter Mosley teaches us that failure is an important part of success. Failure demonstrates our willingness to take risks. But what else does failure tell us? What […]
Trying and failing is much more interesting that playing it safe and consistently succeeding.
How does meditation do the job many pay thousands for therapists to do? It is the question researchers and scientists are still trying to find the answer to; however, one study helps to shed some light on the subject.
Based on a study in one of the countries where soap is limited, scientists discovered that by applying the right technique when washing hands a person can eliminate bacteria using only water.
“Self-plagiarism” is the grandiose new term for the re-use of one’s own words in several journalistic articles, for which Jonah Lehrer became famous last week. Lehrer’s problems then expanded to […]
Breakthrough ideas don’t happen overnight. Origins of Species was published in 1859, 28 years after Darwin first boarded HMS Beagle;James Joyce spent seventeen years writing Finnegans Wake;and when Edison filed […]