For Americans especially, “being yourself” is a basic cultural value. For the psychologically vulnerable, the cognitive dissonance between this and the constant external pressure to be something other than ourselves can be toxic.
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Despite Mark Zuckerberg, venture capitalism and the myths of Silicon Valley, the increasing complexity of our technological systems means successful innovation is occurring later in life.
One of the biggest problems with lists is that with lists come labels. A list of African-American artists or women artists already sets them up as different (and perhaps less, […]
Super Bowl 2012 is upon us, so we indulge the healthy quarterback vs. quarterback rivalry by asking which is a better leader. The glamorous Brady or the workhorse Manning?
Let’s say you’re in the top fifth percentile of avid readers, tearing through a book a week on average. With such literary gusto raising your sails, you might feel like […]
Can the government help to restore what was once the country’s strong manufacturing base? Or are efficient technologies and cheap foreign wages too difficult to buck?
Orthodox globalization declares that any hindrance to rational market efficiency is a Bad Thing. So there’s no sensible counter to that unnamed Apple executive in the New York Times‘ series […]
Athletes may be paid millions, but implicit in the bargain is that ownership of their bodies is no longer entirely theirs.
The hilarious swami of style and fashion egalitarian Simon Doonan, author of Gay Men Don’t Get Fat, offers some efficient guidelines to personal style for the mad scientist whose mind is on loftier things.
If you are looking to start a business after graduating college, but want to continue your education first, choosing an engineering degree over an MBA may be the wiser decision.
Are you ready to pay $19 per month, without a contract, for mobile phone service? That is what a new start up is offering by switching between WiFi and a standard carrier network.
The Obama White House, as measured by its willingness to embrace new technology platforms on a rolling basis, is perhaps the most innovative in history. This week’s Google+ Hangout with […]
When it comes to reproductive health in America, progress often seems like a one-step-forward-two-steps-back kind of situation. But let’s start with some rare good news: in January, the Obama administration […]
The fourth potentially habitable planet in our galaxy has just been discovered, 22 light years from Earth. This planet, called GJ 667Cc, is too large to be called Earth’s twin. It […]
So the Susan G. Komen Foundation has withdrawn its financial support of Planned Parenthood. Wailing and gnashing, wailing and gnashing. Erica Greider, my colleague at The Economist, offers an evenhanded […]
Italy, says Italian Historian Joseph Luzzi, is a chiaroscuro nation – a land of sharp contrasts.
In the seething cesspool of Caravaggio’s Rome, violence was a form of advertisement; it let people know you were, so to speak, the wrong guy to f#@k with. Internationally renowned art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon revisits Caravaggio’s life as a kind of model for career success in tough times.
For decades, automobiles have taken priority over pedestrians in city planning offices. That is set to change as we come to grips with what actually makes cities work: pedestrian traffic.
Mitt Romney looks more and more like the Republican nominee after soundly defeating the Republican field in the Florida Primary. Romney managed to get more votes than Newt Gingrich and […]
Your clothes may become the medium through which all the world’s electronic devices are connected. Soft screens woven into fabric may mean one less thing you must carry with you.
Nature always seems to get it right first. New research and computer modelling carried out at MIT suggest spider webs could inspire advances in engineering and online security.
Nanotechnology is working to keep your electronic devices from overheating, improving efficiency and extending their life. Machines as large as electrical transformers stand to benefit.
When it come to renewable energy, portable electronics or electric cars, storing energy is a must, and the more we can store, the better. Batteries are essential to sustainable energy.
“All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up,” says washed-up silent film star Norma Desmond in the final scene of Billy Wilder’s unforgettable 1950 film Sunset Boulevard. Gloria Swanson […]
Here is a version of The Trolley Problem, a classic experiment in ethics. Let’s say you are next to some train tracks, and down the tracks and behind a […]
Here is a version of The Trolley Problem, a classic experiment in ethics. Let’s say you are next to some train tracks, and down the tracks and behind a […]
Neuroscientists have taken the first step toward decoding our thoughts into language by observing which parts of our brain respond to different sounds. Potential benefits are endless.
I had a heated debate on Facebook this week over the issue raised in this opinion piece in The New York Times that argues that anti-discrimination laws don’t go far […]
Mysterious dark matter and dark energy may no longer be needed to explain the Universe’s accelerating expansion, which may be caused by tension between matter and antimatter.
As Dr. Michio Kaku has been predicting for years, we are inching ever closer to producing virtual reality contact lenses that will add a layer of interactive, rich information over our mundane […]