All Articles

For many Americans, Columbus Day no longer fits the litmus test of credibility and relevance. The true American character is about attaining the impossible through exploration, scientific research, innovation and creativity. Let’s rename the holiday “Exploration Day.” 

Business journalism powerhouse Leigh Gallagher has some tough advice for her own, younger self: Be more aggressive. Pay attention to your career, not just your to-do list. And ask for what you want. 

New Zealand researchers announce the existence of a cow, Daisy, that has been genetically engineered to produce milk that has very little whey, a common allergen.

Edward Brantmeier and I recently published an article focused on how modern digital technologies can be used to catalyze peace. In it we argue that: Information communication technologies (ICTs) play […]

The Short Answer Fairy needs to visit President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney before the next debate. For awhile there last night, I wondered if President Obama […]

Well, if all you had to go by is tonight’s debate, you’d have to say yes. Romney’s presentations were clearer, tighter, more incisive, more eloquent, more factually detailed, and more […]

The votes are in: Mitt Romney won Wednesday night’s debate. A CBS poll showed 46 percent of uncommitted voters pegging Romney as the winner, versus 22 percent choosing Obama. Even the analysts at […]

Today, a UK team presented a system designed to address the need to remove the many objects currently in orbit around the Earth.

It’s been 800,000 years since the last one, and the field’s been thinning for the last 150 years, so one space agency is launching measurement satellites.

Body weights of many marine fish are expected to shrink by up to 24 percent if greenhouse gas emissions rise, according to a new study.

Considering that it’s still late winter in the rover’s neck of the woods, discovering (relatively) warm temperatures boosts scientists’ hopes of finding evidence of microbial life.

The most comprehensive survey yet of a coral reef system shows that Australia’s famous Great Barrier has lost half its cover since 1985.

‘Normality’ or ‘normalcy’, as a concept, is long due for the crematorium of bad ideas, alongside racism and homophobia. Indeed, it is precisely these kinds of ideas the defence of normalcy encourages and gave birth to: it is both kingmaker and mother.  

Although Zbigniew Brzezinski “talks in paragraphs, virtually without pause,” according to a recent profile of him in the Financial Times, those paragraphs don’t meander; he gets to the point—fast.  When […]

Elizabeth Bernstein has a thoughtful and interesting piece in the Wall Street Journal about the troubling incivility, cruelty, and rudeness that many people unleash online, in Comments sections, on Twitter, […]

[Editor’s Note: It’s happening again. I hadn’t gotten any of these messages since last year, and I was starting to hope that the wormhole, or whatever strange conduit it was, […]

In case other social media platforms aren’t providing the conflict you want, Deeyoon gives you the ability to participate in live, real-time, structured video debates.

A “nosy” smartphone app asks users 50 questions and displays results in real time.

Han Solo’s Millennium Falcon can take off at a moment’s notice and escape from pursuers into space. And can land on almost any patch of ground. Why can’t we do that in 2012? The problem is the puny power of the chemical rocket.

Could the unforgiving Taklamakan Desert once have been the location of the Garden of Earthly Delights?

To combat a decline in the number of computer science graduates, Microsoft is putting software engineers to work as teachers as part of its Technology Education and Literacy In Schools program.

Is de facto racial segregation in public schools a problem? A strong and vocal majority of readers responding to my Economist post on the dearth of blacks and Hispanics at […]

A just-released poll by Quinnipiac reveals that President Obama now holds a not insurmountable 4-point lead over Romney overall—but he has an eye-popping 18-point lead among women voters.  It’s hard […]

Flightfox, a new startup, uses its team of experts — many of whom are ordinary people — to find the cheapest fares for a proposed trip, with the winner receiving a finder’s fee.

A number of different factors are involved in the decrease of marriage among Iranians, and some are calling for potentially radical solutions.

Is there any more famous footage of an artist at work than Hans Namuth’s film of Jackson Pollock? More than half a century after Pollock’s death, the “Jack the Dripper” […]

Currently being considered: A law that, if passed, would punish anyone who “insults” religious believers or holy sites. The Russian Orthodox Church and other religions are on board, but artists say it will only increase self-censorship.

The interdisciplinary approach both to research and learning is starting to gain favor again because small and nimble research labs are proving that they have a method for speeding the pace and reducing the cost of discovery. 

“When I was young and bold and strong, O, right was right and wrong was wrong! My plume on high, my flag unfurled, I rode away to right the world. […]

Entomophagy — the practice of eating insects — is already common in many parts of the world, but as scientists look to bugs as a serious alternate food source, one businessman sees himself as a pioneer.