Astrophysicist David Spiegel and physicist Edwin Turner say that the life here on Earth could be common, or it could be extremely rare—there’s no reason to prefer one conclusion over the other.
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Why does anything exist at all? The idea that the universe simply appeared out of nothing is difficult enough; trying to conceive of nothingness is perhaps even harder.
Despite high hopes for a new physics from the world’s largest particle collider, beyond a handful of unusual events, the latest data from the Large Hadron Collider are frustratingly ordinary.
Investments in renewable energy have been booming, but the government subsidies that have made renewable energy an attractive investment are bankrupting national budgets.
Energy derived from oil reaches, quite literally, every aspect of our lives. From the food we eat, to how we move ourselves around, without oil, our lives would look very differently.
Countries including China, India and Iran are engaged in a new race to explore space. Efforts include building research centers, rockets, satellites and lunar rovers.
I’ve spent the last two days at the Iowa Education Summit. Now that it’s over, I have a multitude of thoughts and observations swirling around in my head. Here are eight… […]
Earlier this summer I was feeling down in the dumps about libraries. I was spending the month of June in Flushing, Queens, a melting-pot neighborhood where the local library bustles […]
The first time you see the name Robert Henri, it’s natural to pronounce it “ahn-ree.” Although the artist was partly of French descent, he preferred “hen-rye,” perhaps as a nod […]
No matter how detailed the map, for some it will always be large enough to separate Us from Them
So I’m spending the week speaking at and otherwise participating in the national honors program of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute–a conservative educational foundation. The students are spectacularly impressive. They come from […]
If you are 15 years old, 50 or 50 x 2 step away from the screen right now and go to a mirror and look…. Did you look carefully? Who […]
Earlier today many of the internet jihadi forums posted an official audio tape from the al-Malahim media wing, which released all AQAP’s statements. (A note of caution: if it doesn’t […]
City investigators have determined that a great horned own found dead in Inwood Hill Park last month succumbed to avian herpes. The virus is not transmissible to humans. [Photo credit: […]
While I’ve been busy thinking and blogging about drones these past few weeks, things on the ground have continued to evolve even if there hasn’t been a great deal of […]
Rosetta Stone CEO Tom Adams explains why most mission statements are terrible, how you can write a great one — and how to get others on board.
John Boehner’s budget proposal would cause the greatest increase in poverty in U.S. history, according to an analysis from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: House Speaker John Boehner’s […]
MSNBC’s Morning Joe is among the best of cable news options. The program’s analysis and discussion offers cross-talk from a diversity of political thinkers and sharp analysis, packaged with rock […]
A browser add-on for Google Chrome, and soon for Firefox, offers a way to combine Google+, Facebook and Twitter posts into users’ Google+ stream of status updates.
Infringement is different than ‘stealing’ in some very important ways. And yet, industry folks, politicians and law enforcement continue to claim that one is ‘no different’ from the other.
Our always-on society is becoming a Golden Age for introverts, in which it has become easier to carve out time for oneself while meeting the needs of our extroverted friends.
Twitter was conceived as a platform for people to give status updates about themselves, but how we use the medium has changed. Twitter should respond by allowing 280 characters.
Cyber espionage and nation-state-backed hacking incidents appear to be increasing in frequency and severity. What once seemed the province of Hollywood has become real.
Since the past four have been so successful [last year we had 114 posts!], I am putting out a call for people to participate in Leadership Day 2011. To paraphrase what I […]
Forcing President Obama to focus on the debt ceiling issue night after night for weeks on end has changed him for the better. Unfortunately for congressional Republicans, this manufactured fiscal […]
One of the most striking facts about the recent Oslo massacre and bombing by an extremist 32-year-old Norwegian was the sheer amount of pre-meditation that went into the grisly act. […]
I served on a panel, Education in a Digital World, at the Iowa Education Summit today. Here is what I said during my 5 minutes of opening remarks. Good afternoon, We have to […]
Does this picture of a harmless lotus pod give you the howling fantods? I’ll admit, it squicks me a little. Jennifer Abbasi reports on the Popular Science blog that there’s […]
No journalist worth his or her salt should rejoice in the downfall of another. There are plenty of commentators in particular that I could name who infuriate me, who have […]
13-year-old Google is going through a patch of mid-life anxiety. With upstarts like Facebook nipping at its heels, the company is shaking things up in an effort to stay ahead of the game.