One way or another, it’s clear the food price bubble has reached crisis levels. But why hasn’t it reached America? And will the honeymoon soon be over?
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We’re accustomed to thinking developing economies follow in the footsteps of developed ones. The progression of mobile commerce turns that notion on its head.
BMW has opened a car plant where all employees are aged over 50, taking the lead in Germany to get those laid off or in early retirement back on the production line.
Want to know how bad things are in Hollywood right now — how stifling and airless and cautious the atmosphere, how little nourishment or encouragement a good new idea receives?
Yemen may be a fractured society, but I have faith that we can unite against a nepotistic regime that has plundered our resources and given us little but misery.
The Republican Party has declared war on public servants in the United States the same way Middle East dictators have declared war on political dissidents. Members of the GOP like […]
Around this time of year many high school and college students worldwide come to the sad realization that they’re failing chemistry. To them, a mole will always be just a […]
Not everyone needs heavy duty pain relief in labor, but a significant percentage of women do. Let’s not make their needs invisible.
A year ago I wrote a piece in the National entitled “Yemen’s Coming Power Struggle.”* Much of the article focuses on what I saw then as the coming battle between […]
In casting about for an idea about how to blog on everything that is going on in Yemen, I found this Mareb Press story (Ar.) and I really like how […]
IBM’s Watson computer, though a marvel of computing power, cannot answer questions that involve the common sense of a child.
With China in position to overtake the US as the world’s number one economy by 2020, keeping America inventive and productive has never been more important.
Today is mostly reserved for finishing the edits to the paper I have in review, so I thought I’d provide the answer to MVP #33 (top left). There is some […]
Before talking more about happiness, I need to say something about the middle-class way of life we almost all live. To be middle class is to be a free being […]
Today marks the opening in Washington, DC of the annual meetings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest event dedicated to science, policy, and culture. […]
Financial crooks brought down the world’s economy—but the feds are doing more to protect them than to prosecute them, says Matt Taibbi at Rolling Stone Magazine.
After more than 250 days in isolation, three participants of a simulated mission to Mars stepped out to a mock-up of the red planet in Moscow and planted flags in the sand.
Many studies have shown that dolphins can understand human vocabulary and syntax. The problem is that dolphins can’t respond in kind, but now biologists are starting to change that.
Yes, that’s right: Apple isn’t the best at everything. Apple’s new fee structure for premium content not only risks anti-trust issues—its 30% cut is greedy, says TechCrunch.
The circumstances were bizarre. The sudden return, the backdrop of war, a shady banker and arms dealer as a sponsor. But it was Bobby Fischer! One could not believe it.
Global warming helped drive a rise in the intensity of extreme rain and snowfall across much of the Northern Hemisphere during the last half of the 20th century, a new study has found.
Washington policy wonks have been grappling with a subject that is more the province of poets and philosophers than bureaucrats: what is the value of a human life?
For many of the questions Watson got right on Jeopardy!, a naive Google query of the ‘en.wikipedia.org’ domain returned, as the first result, the correct answer.
Technology is eating jobs—and not just obvious ones like toll takers and phone operators. Lawyers and doctors are at risk as well. Is your job an endangered species?
The Congressional Budget Office projects that America’s 2011 deficit will be $1.5 trillion, or 9.8% of GDP, and debt held by the public in the 2011 fiscal year will approach 70% of GDP.
Hi everyone, If you type www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org into your browser, you’ll see that Dangerously Irrelevant has a new home! I’m now hosted at BigThink, which is dedicated to deep thinking on […]
From his many interviews with “minor geniuses,” Malcolm Gladwell distills a couple characteristics shared by all successful innovators.
Just how well computers are able to understand language nuance–what researchers call the “Paris Hilton” problem–will determine how far A.I. has come.
With tremendous improvements in energy efficiency, traditional buildings can be just as sustainable as buildings that flaunt their green-ness.
A buddy of mine called me the other day with awe in his voice and asked me if I knew that Hosni Mubarak was worth as much as Bill Gates. […]