The newspapers of yore had two dependable revenue streams: subscribers and advertisers. Today’s broadsheets draw money from the same sources, but funding problems at even the most mainstream papers are […]
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Trypanophobia – the extreme, irrational fear of needles – is said to affect 10% of American adults. And then there are the merely squeamish ones, for whom getting a shot […]
In my most recent book “Physics of the Impossible,” I define three classes of impossibilities in regards to technology. Class One impossibilities are technologies that are impossible today but don’t […]
Big ideas are usually too big, says Jason Fried, co-founder of the software company 37signals and co-author of the workplace manifesto “Rework.” “If we have a big idea, let’s chop […]
A $20m refit aims to cut the Empire State Building’s energy use by 40% and save emissions equal to 20,000 cars, says the Guardian. The motive is profit rather than conscience.
Conservative columnist Jonah Goldberg says the democratization of the media is an improvement over alleged moral gatekeepers like Walter Cronkite, the ‘saint of bourgeois America.’
The Smart Set considers the phrase ‘State-of-the-Art’ and asks why some things receive so much praise just for being new? Progress, it says, is something distinct from improvement.
A group of leaders spread across the globe have been given secret keys and are “charged with rebooting the web if it is sent into meltdown by a terror attack or mass hacking.”
“A reduction in crop yields caused by climate change could mean up to 6.7 million additional Mexicans will emigrate to the United States by 2080, says a study by Princeton University researchers.”
General Motor’s new hybrid car will soon sell for $33,500, after a government credit. The machine will be a test of the public’s willingness to go hybrid and its confidence in a revamped GM.
“The Massachusetts Legislature has approved a new law intended to bypass the Electoral College system,” says The Boston Globe. The state’s electoral votes would follow the national popular vote.
“The communist government of North Korea, currently bouncing through the headlines once more, was supposed to have gone out of business at least a generation ago.”
“Digital freedom campaigners have welcomed a US ruling that loosens Apple’s tight control over what users of its iPhone can do with the device.” The Independent on digital copyrights.
“People are turned on by photographs of people who resemble their close genetic counterparts,” say researchers. The recent findings shed light onto who we are attracted to and why.
“We never know the source of the leak,” Julian Assange assured a London audience today at the Frontline Club. The uniquely charismatic WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief went on: “We could make a […]
“There was a time when building the future was inspirational,” Brian Fies writes in his new graphic novel, Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow? “Ambitious. Romantic. Even enobling. I […]
The U.S. education system is based on the meritocratic principle that no matter what the circumstances of a child’s birth, each should have a baseline level of education and the […]
Let’s face it: The planet is heating up, Earth’s population is expanding at an exponential rate, and the the natural resources vital to our survival are running out faster than […]
When, after thirty years of authoritarian rule, a young dissident and perennial thorn in the side of the Establishment, Mohammed Nasheed won the first free and fair election in the Maldives in […]
Whether or not there is a creativity crisis may be up for debate, but one thing is clear: Our current education system is failing to create an environment that truly fosters creativity . . . Now, a new application out of MIT Media Lab is aiming to address some of these issues.
In June 2009 the House of Representatives passed the Waxman-Markey bill to reduce carbon emissions through a series of cap-and-trade regulations. The news this week that the Senate version of […]
In 2008, journalist Jere Van Dyk crossed the border from Afghanistan into Pakistan. An expert on the history and culture of the region, Van Dyk had lived with the Mujahideen […]
It is no wonder that the Government of the Maldives has been talking about buying up a tract of land elsewhere in South Asia to evacuate its people to if global sea levels […]
“New research from France finds restaurant patrons exposed to music with pro-social lyrics are more likely to leave tips.” Miller-McCune on another delicious French sociology study.
“They sure buy a lot of cars for a society built on collective ownership.” Slate says that while China’s political party is highly centralized, most Maoist concepts have been abandoned.
What happens when you are on ‘the same wavelength’ as someone? New neurological data suggests physical traits are behind feeling a deep connection with someone.
“If we want to protect traditional marriage, we should be prepared to sacrifice our love affair with equal rights and sexual freedoms.” An author at 3 Quarks reflects on the nature of tradition.
Nouns that have changed to verbs, such as ‘login’, ‘text’, and ‘unlike’ have some grammarians in a fuss, but one lexicographer celebrates the changes as evidence of language’s dynamism.
“In many ways, WikiLeaks’ 92,000 Afghanistan documents are no Pentagon Papers.” The Christian Science Monitor says the leaked documents confirm already-available information.
“Before children even take their first breath, common air pollutants breathed by their mothers during pregnancy may reduce their intelligence.” Scientific America reports on urban pollution.