So I’m sorry for yet another relatively pointy-headed post. I’m still thinking about the twin pillars of our modern, scientific self-understanding—Descartes and Darwin. For today, I’m thinking about how the […]
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Here are hypotheses 10 through 18 on how social media might change your love life. Click here for Part 1… ASSORTATIVE MATING ON STEROIDS Like marries like today. “Assortative mating” […]
We’re sorry to inform you that the space mining position you were seeking has been filled. That’s the message from Planetary Resources, who was inundated with resumes to mine space rocks.
This weekend, the company SpaceX is set to make a giant leap for the private space industry. It is scheduled to carry supplies–but no people–to the International Space Station.
These are crazy times, so why should the art market be immune? However, there’s madness and then there’s sheer madness. Only half over, the month of May 2012 might go […]
It must be a terribly confusing time to be a member of the Vatican hierarchy. In an effort to stem the accelerating exodus of Catholic laypeople, they’ve been cracking down […]
Just a quick note: In the past few days, I’ve had several complaints about the auto-playing video ads on the right sidebar. Rest assured, I find them just as annoying […]
What is the Big Idea? Flickr, a photo sharing application with a social media component, used to be one of the most popular tools for sharing photos on the Web. Its […]
Ed Conard is Mitt Romney’s former partner at Bain Capital and the author of the provocative new book entitle Unintended Consequences, which argues that economic inequality is a sign that the economy is working. In this far-ranging interview on Big Think, Conard discusses why he chose to speak out at the risk of embarrassing Romney, and how he responds to the attacks that have been leveled against Bain Capital.
“It’s time to say goodbye to Gordon Gekko behavior,” Anthony Scaramucci told Big Think. “It’s not good for society. Money has an intoxicating effect on people.” Scaramucci is the founder and […]
By embracing new Web and mobile technologies, green energy companies are creating a new Cleanweb movement in which formerly expensive alternative energy sources – such as solar power – are […]
How much should Facebook be worth? According to a recent poll, two-thirds of active investors think Facebook will be overvalued when it goes public today, while half of all Americans […]
A new survey of corporate professionals across Europe shows that high-growth companies were the most likely to embrace social media, as were employees who were later promoted.
For most of human history creativity was something that came from the muses; it was about flashes of insight from another world. Today we know that creativity is something that […]
Do you know what is in your digital dossier? Since you began to have a life on the Web, data has been accruing about the habits and interests of your […]
The degree to which companies can yield the power of individuals’ data to explain societal behavior gives them unprecedented amounts of power. Privacy is a relatively minor concern.
The successful decoding of the human genome was a phenomenal scientific achievement. For the first time in the world’s history, the entire genetic code of the human species was fully available to […]
A new online social network wants to bring neighborhoods together in ways that may agree with how people want to know their neighbors, i.e. semi-anonymously and at their convenience.
Most commentary on U.S.-China relations understandably focuses on the challenges that a rising China poses to America’s superpower position and the incentives that America has to prevent China from displacing […]
–Guest post by Declan Fahy, AoE’s Science and Culture correspondent. Can popular science writing help diagnose a medical condition? It did for me. Since I was a teenager I had […]
I kind of want to move to the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Actually, not really, but I may visit more often once the new 2nd Avenue Subway line is […]
With Stephen Colbert on vacation this week, Rep. Jeff Flake of Arizona seems to have jumped into the role of the laughable conservative who makes ridiculous arguments with a straight face — or, in this case, who tries to make worthwhile political science research sound ridiculous.
The SpaceX Dragon is scheduled to make a demonstration launch this Saturday to the International Space Station, an important milestone in the private space race. And yet, SpaceX founder Elon Musk isn’t content. He’s eying Mars, with or without NASA.
What’s the big deal about J.P. Morgan’s $2 billion trading loss? Austan Goolsbee, an economic advisor to President Obama, said the American public should be concerned because, in his words, […]
When I was five my family got its first microwave oven. The department store sent a nice lady over to teach my mother how she could use it to roast […]
Despite a recent privacy snafu, the creator of the smartphone-based social network Path says he wants to create a portable Internet that provides an intimate place for private social groups.
A new education initiative brings together app developers and professional educators to use the power of tablet computers in the classrooms. New apps teach everything from spelling to Chinese script.
Last week the House voted 218-208 to block the National Science Foundation from funding political science research. No other type of research would be blocked by the NSF budget amendment. […]
MIT economist Esther Duflo has documented how anti-poverty programs create an economic benefit larger than the sum of their parts. She says the margin represents the yield of hope’s seeds.