With the emergence of new tools that can measure a person’s biological state, computer interfaces are starting to take users’ feelings into account, helping the user to focus.
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Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, is struggling to maintain his authority in the country as vast swathes of territory in the east now appear to be under the control of pro-democracy protesters.
Last week I had the opportunity to moderate a world-class panel here on campus featuring AU film professor Larry Engel, science education advocate Eugenie Scott, and National Academies science education […]
Charles Spencer of American University Media services did a terrific Web story on the Google science communication fellows program I will be participating in this year. Here’s an excerpt where […]
Why do virtually all men over the age of 90 develop some amount of prostate cancer whereas heart cancer is practically unheard of?
A Georgia Representative has introduced a bill to investigate all unsupervised miscarriages as crimescenes. Don’t believe me? Here’s the relevant language from HB 1, downloadable from legislature’s website: When a […]
Submit your questions now in advance of Big Think’s interview with this controversial thinker and visionary.
More than two years after the financial crisis, unemployment remains at 9.0%. Even as corporate profits rebound, the economy is still barely adding enough jobs to keep up with the […]
I’ve been doing a little digging around the web since the protests in Wisconsin began. Maybe me eyes are deceiving me, but it looks like Governor Walker may have already […]
Earlier today, Dr. Boris Behncke posted a link to some fascinating images of the dome growing at the summit of Nevado del Huila (see below) in Colombia. The volcano started […]
An art group that stages orgies, throws cats at cashiers and has Banksy as a fan has enraged the Russian authorities to the point of violent repression and censorship of their work.
If the opponents of deep federal cuts, starting with President Obama, are trying to decide how hard to fight, they may want to err on the side of toughness. Both logic and history make this case.
Futurist and singularitarian Ray Kurzweil has applied his “law of accelerating returns” to the field of solar power in saying that he in not concerned about a future energy crisis.
Before Watson’s Jeopardy! contest was even over, I.B.M. and Nuance, a leading maker of voice-recognition software, announced plans to put the computer to work in the health-care industry.
Many of us think of ourselves as moral persons, but in the clinch, when the opportunity arises to do good or bad, how well do our predictions match up with the actions we actually take?
Why are experts so bad at making predictions? The world is a messy place with countless intervening variables and confounding factors, which our brains are not equipped to evaluate.
A new study finds that electromagnetic radiation emitted by cellphone antenna boosts brain activity. The findings may spark new concerns about the health effects of cellphone use.
A new Harvard study recommends that educators place a stronger focus on vocational education and apprenticeships, rather than aim to send every high school student to college.
Over the years, researchers have tried to explain monogamy, but in efforts to find out how people maintain relationships, some researchers look at more subtle clues—literally.
The crowds mobbing the Wisconsin Capitol in Madison are right: Gov. Scott Walker’s budget repair bill is indeed an attack on organized government workers. And it’s about time.
The transhumanist Kyle Munkittrick has come after me for not making arguments. Mainly he seems ticked off that I speculated that the biotechnological enhancement of children might well not be so […]
Have traditional liberal institutions such as education, religion, labor, and the arts stopped challenging corporate powers and, instead, joined them? Yes, says Pulitzer Prize winner Chris Hughes.
Physicists talk rapturously about an equation that could reconcile the four fundamental interactions of nature. But why should you care?
Jason Silva, media personality, Singularity enthusiast and Fellow at the Hybrid Reality Institute, recently interview Barry Ptolemy who directed the documentary Transcendent Man. Check out this fun and informal interview […]
Most of the nation’s people identify themselves first by tribe or religion, and are all too ready to spit on the cultures of others, says Firouz Folani.
A couple quick updates on new and ongoing eruptions: Lokon-Empung, Indonesia: Eruptions reader Ton Van Der AA brought us news about a small, new eruption at Lokon-Empung (Indonesian) in Indonesia. Ruskanda Farid […]
As Libyan dictator, Colonel Gadaffi, defiantly declared that he would not quit, and clashes continued between the security forces and unarmed civilians, the plight of foreign nationals stuck in Libya […]
Joyce Carol Oates has written a beautiful book about grief following the loss of a spouse. As Oates is one of the most prolific American writers much has been written […]
Public unions have been a 50-year mistake. The argument for public unionization wasn’t moral, economic or intellectual. It was rankly political.
Can you teach writing? Americans think you can, broadly speaking. They are happy to attempt a definition of good writing. In the UK, we are a bit more skeptical.