Facebook’s new manager of energy efficiency and sustainability wants to develop apps that allow users to share and compare their energy use with friends, leveraging the power of friendship.
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Just a quick note: I’ve been interviewed for the latest episode of Think Atheist Radio, which is now available for download and podcasting. In the interview, we chat about the […]
I wrote a short post on why freedom of expression must and should always trump dignity. Ideas can remain, locked in place as true or good, even if they are […]
Science rests on the assumption that the world can be known: that causes have effects, and logic applied on Thursday in Katmandu is valid still on Friday in Geneva. Psychology, […]
The economic situation seems to be improving, but many Americans think differently. Is the U.S. recovering or headed for another recession?
The economic state of mind for many countries, and the actual status of the country’s economic state don’t always match up.
With respect to the cosmos, mankind has just been born. Hypothetically, if our 14 billion-year-old universe were scaled down to just 10 years (for the sake of comparison), dinosaurs would […]
With less than a week before the opening of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England, anticipation and some dread both fill the air. Ever since the Munich games in […]
The U.S. looks to China to support them in its attempt to restrict Iran’s nuclear objectives.
The Director of National Intelligence admits in writing that there was at least one occasion when government spying was in violation of civil rights.
Women want to have the career, husband and the kids, but to have it all is very difficult—and it isn’t because women are incapable of doing it all.
I usually write optimistic posts. This is going to be a scary one. I apologize in advance. While I was in Columbus last month, I mentioned the furnace-like heat. Well, […]
Having found a way to measure the sensation of awe in laboratory settings, researchers have found that appreciating majesty helps us live in the present, making life more satisfying.
If you experience stress because you feel you don’t have enough time, researchers say the best way to overcome that feeling may actually be to give more of your time away.
While compassion is often the subject of religious and philosophical dictum, we can readily make ourselves more compassionate by thinking differently, say experimental psychologists.
A young Russian entrepreneur is courting the world’s richest men and women to fund his plans to make humans immortal. Called the 2045 Initiative, the quicker funding is found, the better.
One of the world’s foremost authorities in IQ measurement says that over the last century, women have grown smarter at a faster rate than men, perhaps because they’ve been given more rights.
A Conversation with William Irwin Thompson by Michael Garfield William Irwin Thompson is a poet, philosopher, cultural historian, former MIT professor, and founder of the Lindisfarne Association – a transdisciplinary think-tank […]
I’ve noticed recently that my blogroll has been looking pretty homogeneous (Freethought Blogs has gobbled up a lot of it), and I’m always on the lookout for interesting new voices […]
The horrifying midnight movie shooting spree in Colorado on Friday has re-ignited the national debate over gun control that raged following the Columbine and Virginia Tech massacres in 1999 and […]
The governmental body that overseas European health regulations is set to be the first in the Western world to approve a specific gene therapy to treat a genetic disease.
A new technique used to sequence the genome of single sperm cells for the first time could pay dividends by making in vitro fertilization more reliable and even aiding cancer research.
In two recent experiments, animals got fatter at a faster rate when fed genetically modified food. Because the US lacks a labeling system for GM foods, consumers cannot make informed decisions.
I’ve been thinking a lot this week about assumptions. Especially when it comes to trying to study bold, complicated and human constructs like love, empathy and creativity in the brain. […]
While trials show that the new HIV-prevention pill reduces the likelihood of transmitting the virus, doctors worry that misdiagnoses and poor compliance will result in a drug-resistant HIV.
Using stem cells, a nationwide team of scientists have been able to isolate the disease outside the human body, allowing them to test different variables and find better treatments.
A gunman opened fire during a screening of The Dark Knight Rises. Most of us, after hearing about this, are probably feeling sickened and disturbed. No doubt preachers of all […]
The killings in Aurora, Colorado are literally sickening. I’ve been a little sick about it all day. And I find myself with the urge to say that this sort of […]
So everyone’s talking about the article by the intellectual Russell Jacoby on the alleged fact that there are no conservative intellectuals anymore. The article isn’t much good, in fact. One […]
What’s the Big Idea? Every culture in history has had an archetype of the wise woman. Throughout history, the voices of these women have been categorically suppressed. But now, more […]