Harvard medical researcher Ted Kaptchuk is finding that how placebos are administered plays a very important role in their ability to cause positive and negative physiological changes.
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Futurist and soon-to-be director of engineering at Google, Ray Kurzweil has made a habit of making predictions about future technology as accurate as they are bold. Now he wants to live longer.
The tide is turning against the sophistication associated with having a nightcap before bed. Sleep specialists say any alcohol is likely to disrupt our rest and keep us from dreaming.
Recent research on what motivates friendship in human and animals societies has challenged theories of evolutionary biology which suggest reciprocal bonds are formed simply to survive.
It might not be pleasant to hear but there’s little reason to disagree with Sir David Attenborough’s pronouncement that “we are a plague on the Earth”. Of course, in terms […]
My favorite Baltimorean iconoclast, filmmaker John Waters, had a wonderful line during a local NPR interview a few years ago. The topic had turned to same-sex marriage campaigns and Waters […]
The use of micron-sized lights as a delivery method is being researched by a consortium of UK universities hoping to make optical wireless communication a reality.
The FDA has given clearance to the first-ever autonomous robot for use in medical settings. With it, doctors can examine patients from a remote location.
If you live in Germany, that is: A court has ruled that a man should receive compensation due to being deprived of what they say is a necessity for daily life.
So Joe Carter, a particularly able blogger, mocks the indignation of the North Carolina legislators who want to keep people on welfare from being able to play the state-run lottery. […]
Lance Armstrong simply didn’t (or doesn’t) grasp the purpose of feelings. He believed that the off feeling in his gut was a sign to wage war. So he did just that — and you know the rest.
One salient feature of the United States in the 21st century is a belief that our school system – from pre-kindergarten to higher education – is failing us. There are […]
Ask most people to describe a “robot,” and they’d probably start to describe something vaguely human-looking, maybe something a little metallic or shiny with limbs. Something like the Roboy. Or WALL-E. Or […]
The government announced on Thursday that it’s launching a Start-Up Visa program this spring to encourage entrepreneurs to immigrate. Included in the deal: Immediate access to investors.
In Germany, it’s serious enough such that later this year, some car models will include active safety systems that recognize signs and alert drivers.
Scientists in the UK have sketched workable plans to encode hard data onto strands of human DNA which, instead of decaying like computers, would last three billion years or more.
“Being a submissive or dutiful patient doesn’t always pay off,” says Susan Gubar, professor emerita of English at Indiana University. “Sometimes it’s good to be bad.”
One of the most unforgettable spiritual and artistic experiences I’ve encountered in my life happened in the Sistine Chapel years ago. Straining my neck as fellow tourists did the same, […]
Bioethicist Daniel Callahan has made a case for the public derision of people who overeat in a style similar to how smokers have been sent outside, taxed more and are generally stigmatized.
University of Wisconsin scientists have lifted a self-imposed moratorium on flu research, initially imposed for fear that information on flu mutations could fall into the wrong hands.
Biology labs are now inexpensive and mobile enough to be set up in a garage. The kind of genetic tinkering occurring across the nation mirrors the experiments in computing a generation earlier.
A few weeks ago, I was in line at the grocery store and overheard the following exchange. “The cop gave her a ticket for texting and driving. She wasn’t speeding […]
There are plenty of people who are single and frustrated, unhappily married, or, on the other hand, happily divorced. What matters most is how they prepare their minds.
Peter Brook’s The Suit, in residence at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, is another reminder from the master director that theater is more capable than any other art form of inducing empathy.
Peugoet Citroen plans to roll out subcompact cars using its Hybrid Air system by 2016, at a price designed to compete with hybrid leader Toyota.
German designers have created a touch-sensitive floor that can recognize individuals by their weight, track their movements, and display interactive video.
Valentines Day is fast approaching, Praxis readers, and you don’t want to be caught without a date. With Internet romance sites catering to virtually every interest —Christian Mingle for New […]
FaceWash is targeted towards soon-to-be college graduates looking for a quick way to scrub their less-than-PC activities.
The brilliant Albert Einstein didn’t believe in this realm, and yet he won a Nobel Prize for playing in it.
In most countries, if an elected official told older adults to “hurry up and die” in order to save the state money on their medical care, it would border on […]