SSA Week is ongoing, as atheist bloggers come together to raise money for the Secular Student Alliance. At the time this post was published, they’ve collectively raised $61,250 out of […]
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Struggling with a foreign language is practically the definition of mental strain: what is the word for “screwdriver” again? did I produce that “ĥ” sound correctly? are they laughing with […]
Nearly two decades ago, I walked into my first Abnormal Psychology class. Given the course title, I thought I had a pretty good handle on what the subject matter would […]
The Mars rover Curiosity will be given more time to look for signs of life when it lands on the planet this summer thanks to NASA scientists’ ambition to better define the rover’s landing site.
According to a Pew survey, there has been a huge spike in the number of Millennials — those Americans under 30 — who doubt the existence in God. According to the […]
The space agency is set to launch the world’s best black hole-hunting telescope in a novel way by strapping the satellite to the underbelly of a jet, firing it into orbit from a high altitude.
Ahead of a major physics conference in mid-July, scientists at Europe’s Large Hadron Collider have concluded analyzing data which may finally confirm the existence of the Higgs boson.
Weber Shandwick and Powell Tate, with KRC research, is releasing an interesting report this week on “Civility in America 2012.” Sixty-three percent “believe we have a major civility problem […]
Humanity is on the threshold of disturbing half of the Earth’s landmass. Scientists say that could represent a crucial tipping point beyond which the planet’s biology would drastically change.
Seth Shostak, senior astronomer with the SETI Institute, advises Hollywood on the science of extraterrestrials. He says aliens would be vastly stronger than us and far more intelligent.
Jonah Lehrer’s post at The New Yorker details some worrying research on cognition and thinking through biases, indicating that “intelligence seems to make [such] things worse.” This is because, as […]
I remember going to bed one night when I was 11, seriously afraid I would not be alive in the morning. It was October, 1962, and the frightening cold […]
It used to be that the word “doctor” brought to mind an image of a kindly old man in a small office with a stethoscope, but now it conjures up […]
In the two decades since German reunification, the German government has spent up to €1,6 trillion on upgrading the defunct economic infrastructure of the communist East to match that of […]
At Netroots Nation last week, I attended a panel on Citizens United, the infamous case in which the Supreme Court tossed aside decades of campaign finance laws and ruled that […]
SSA Week is ongoing, as atheist bloggers come together to raise money for the Secular Student Alliance. At the time this post was published, they’ve collectively raised $65,000 out of […]
The Chinese can’t innovate, right? All that rote learning drummed into their cerebellums from birth. Cloning, now that’s a Chinese forte. It makes a comforting chestnut for Americans looking just over the horizon at what the […]
The United Nations (UN) estimates that 56.9 million people died in 2008. Of those, 63.5% died because of Group II causes (i.e., noncommunicable diseases (NCDs)), and almost 30% died because […]
Responding to my post the other day (about the claim that entitlement programs discourage people from having kids) Ramesh Ponnuru replies here with the fair point that cultural differences among […]
What is so special about touching a piano John Lennon once owned? Why do we yell at our laptops? What drove the Yankees to dig up the Red Sox jersey […]
“Be yourself” can seem like risky advice in a competitive job market. But you know what’s riskier? Being nobody. Ken Segall explains how he became an ad man for Apple.
Learn how human-technology co-evolution, Technik and technology quotient are among the key skills necessary for success in the Hybrid Age.
What’s the Latest Development? There is no question as to whether or not the web provides us with a wealth of information. Every day an average of “300 billion emails” […]
More or less anybody who has ever done anything newsworthy can cite, as Henry Rollins can, some turning point at which they made a risky decision that paid off, and a lifelong sense of mission not easily derailed by minor failures.
While writing this post, my mood will vary. I’ll enjoy the beginning – riffing on a new idea is always exciting – but I’ll inevitably hit difficult patches. A few […]
What’s the Latest Development? It has become all too common to walk down a busy city street and see the majority of pedestrians glued to their phones and inattentive to […]
Three interesting pieces on Yemen have hit the internet in the past couple of days, which people who follow Waq al-waq should definitely read. The first, and most important, is […]
When we think of those opposed to homosexuality – which still sounds weird to me, like opposing left-handed people* – or stem-cell research or euthanasia, we tend conclude they’re justifying […]
One of the most interesting of the (ridiculously) long list of documents my daughter had to provide in order to work here in France was a letter stating that she […]