Breaking the analog world into zeros and ones results in some loss of information, but it allows for an infinite number of exact replications.
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The World Wide Web turned 20 this month. To mark the occasion, its creator and protector, Tim Berners-Lee (who invented it so that particle physicists from CERN—the current home of […]
People who watch funny videos on the Internet may be taking advantage of the latest psychological science—putting themselves in a good mood so they can think more creatively.
What would it look like if all the conservatives formed a “utopia” in Texas, say, and broke away from the United States? Social safety nets would be the first thing to go, says Marc Adler.
Despite what optimists within the White House may believe, the odds are not good that Obama will repeat 1996, when Bill Clinton made a startling political comeback.
An Australian-based firm’s $3.9 billion bid for a coal mine in Mozambique says much about its ambitions and the battle that giant mining firms will face in securing Africa’s resources.
In the next five years, the American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that the United States will have to spend more than one trillion dollars simply to sustain what we already have.
A clothing company has begun marketing a pair of cargo pants with solar panels sewn into its pockets. The panels are designed to charge personal electronic devices.
How can the government regulate the neutrality of the Internet? Isn’t that a contradiction in terms? Stephan Kinsella says government regulation of the Internet will stifle business.
The idea of a ‘space elevator’ has been around since the late 1800s. Until now, there wasn’t a material strong enough to build it. Then carbon nanotubes stepped in.
A new law overhauls the way the federal government supports private-sector R&D, and one of the main ways the government hopes to support R&D is with prizes. Lots of prizes.
Couples who avoid sex before marriage end up having happier, more stable relationships and a better time in bed, according to psychologists. Should sex wait until one’s wedding night?
Do you have to be religious to see a face in burnt toast? Probably not, but believers are more likely to attribute such a face to Jesus (1). Believer in […]
Technology goliath IBM just released its top five predictions for the next five years. We agree with all of their sensible forecasts — with some additional thoughts. 1. Yes, You Too Can Be […]
Let me recommend to you this fine review of this season’s best movie. Once again, I think the Coen brothers more than flirt with nihilism. The murderous violence of the film […]
Designer Kaylene Kau has produced a highly functional, sleek prosthetic arm inspired by the tentacle of an octopus.
So he will write a book, even if he does not want to write a book. “I don’t want to write this book, but I have to,” Assange said, and […]
Did Albert Einstein believe in God? Comfortable using the term, he famously said, “God does not play dice,” to express his misgivings about the randomness of quantum mechanics.
Extending unemployment benefits and the Bush tax cuts are a good first step to rewriting America’s tax code, says Nobel Laureate Gary Becker, who favors a flat consumption tax.
Why have new jobs been so hard to come by? One view blames cyclical economic factors but another says there is a mismatch between the skills people have and the jobs available.
Suicide bombers have much to teach. The most remarkable fact is that suicide bombing is a relatively recent historic development, unknown in Islamic societies until the 1980s.
How to keep hope alive? Without a constructive answer to toxic anger and immobilizing guilt, we seem doomed to despair about chances for renewal. One answer is forgiveness.
There is a great deal to be learned from reading the work of Sunstein. He is a brilliant, intellectually honest legal thinker who understands the history of our 20th-century movement.
Why is it that people who argue against the government’s role in the economy don’t likewise advocate for the flip side: that corporations should not be allowed to influence government?
The amygdala is a brain structure crucial for regulating emotions. But the size of the amygdala also reveals just how rich and varied a social life a person leads.
Has post-industrial capitalism completely destroyed the conditions required for healthy childhood development? Dr. Gabor Maté says today’s parents are too stressed out.
Evidence is growing that your DNA sequence does not determine your entire genetic fate. Geneticist Joseph Nadeau is trying to find out what accounts for the rest.
I got an email from on Christmas Day from Emily Troutman describing Christmas in Haiti. In a hidden alleyway, a half-dozen children gather around. They live in Village de Dieu, […]
The presidential adviser penned Kennedy’s famous inaugural line: “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.”
Zinn told Big Think he wanted to be remembered for “introducing a different way of thinking about the world,” and as “somebody who gave people a feeling of hope and power that they didn’t have before.”