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It’s early days still for the neuroscience of meditation, but Kadam Morten, a teacher in the New Kadampa tradition of Buddhism, argues that the Buddha (Gautama Buddha, who lived in India approximately 2500 years ago) was the creator of a “science of the mind.”

By revolutionizing how we interact with the Internet, Google’s augmented reality glasses will revolutionize the technology industry. Apple and Facebook should be afraid, very afraid. 

Are shared human values possible and sustainable without religion? This is the subject of life philosopher Alain de Botton’s new book, Religion for Atheists.

MIT engineers have programmed small magnetic cubes to assume the shape of an object they come into contact with. The technology could be scaled down to sand-sized particles. 

Just when you think you’ve gotten away from the so-called “grandmother cell,” it comes around again.  It’s the proverbial Whack-A-Mole in the neuroscience world.  No matter how many times the […]

While embracing controversy in any form is a challenging first step, Gloria Feldt – former CEO of Planned Parenthood – argues that women need to go further. She says women need to set the agenda – becoming political thermostats rather than thermometers.

Quick. Grab a pencil. Some crayons. A notepad. Wrap your brain around this Friday’s Big Enigma from Ivan Moscovitch’s The Big Book of Brain Games.  Share a photo of your solution in […]

The next stage of 3D printing will be home-manufactured robots, say three of America’s ivy-league institutions, who have received a $10 million grant from the National Science Foundation. 

A Dutch company is working to add floating infrastructure to expanding cities that face a coastline. Roads, parking ramps, and beaches could be rotated around tomorrow’s cities. 

European and American companies have successfully tested new prototypes of flying cars. So how soon will you be able to lift yourself out traffic jams and fly home? That may depend on regulation.  

When it comes to being the world’s most digitally innovative nation, the U.S. now trails Romania, which has become the first nation to accept the “Every European Digital” challenge from […]

Recently, the Catholic writer and apologist Mark Shea fielded a question from a reader who was disturbed by pro-slavery Bible verses quoted on an atheist billboard in Pennsylvania. Here’s the […]

If this video doesn’t creep you out, you might be a replicant.  Researchers at Japan’s Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International have developed a robot called Geminoid|DK, which not only looks like a human, […]

Politics makes us stupid. This is one of my recurring themes. This is the principal reason I refuse to be a partisan or ideological team player. People call me libertarian […]

What is the Big Idea? An intern in a hospital in Harbin city was stabbed to death by an angry patient last week. Three other doctors were seriously injured in […]

Google’s “augmented reality” glasses are upon us, complete with stylish company codename (“Project Glass”) and Orwellian rhetorical judo: “People I have spoken with [i.e., Google employees] who have have seen Project […]

Just ninety years ago, we thought our galaxy was the extent of the Universe. Now we know hundreds of millions of galaxies exist in an ever-expanding Universe. Where does that leave us? 

The buzz surrounding physicist Stephen Hawking‘s newest experiments with communication technology has been a bit overexuberant, along the lines of “new technology could help Stephen Hawking communicate via brain waves!” […]

If there’s a villain in Rosalind E. Krauss’ newest book, Under Blue Cup, it’s Marcel Duchamp. Art fell in the toilet with the dawn of Duchamp’s Fountain.

On March 10, 2009, President Obama announced that environmentalist and civil rights activist Van Jones would serve as a Special Advisor to the White House, overseeing the administration’s ambitious and […]

On Tuesday, April 4th, 2012, we had the pleasure of interviewing Richard Tafel, human rights activist and founder of the policy advocacy organizations The Log Cabin Republicans and The Public […]

David LaChapelle changed the course of his career from commercial photography to fine art because “I want pictures that shine a light on this time we live in” rather than just add to “the distraction and the noise,” he says. 

Scientists have made the most accurate measurements yet of how quickly our Universe is expanding. Since gravitational pull gave way to dark energy, the rate is increasing.

President Obama said Monday that overturning the Affordable Care Act would be “an unprecedented, extraordinary step.” But by all accounts oral argument in the Supreme Court went badly for supporters […]

Given the unequivocal success of NASA’s planet hunting mission, which has found 750 planets outside our solar system, an Earth-like planet will surely be found soon, say astronomers. 

The discovery of ancient planets and new data suggesting that carbon may have formed in the early universe has overturned conventional wisdom about the possibility of very early life. 

University students and private companies are racing to build the first private spacecraft to land on the moon. Google and the X Prize Foundation are offering $20 million to the winner.

In the first of my posts summing up the Reason Rally, there was a commenter who said that gathering on the National Mall was “sink[ing] to the level of the […]

A few simple concepts power today’s powerful data mining algorithms, allowing companies and governments to gather data about who you are, what you do and what you might do. 

Young people are already used to social media being a part of nearly everything they experience. So will books become the next part of life to become an interactive conversation?