Six years ago, in a mock presidential election held in my daughter’s pre-K class, Barack Obama was the clear winner. Of the 18 children, 16 voted for Obama. (“Superman” and […]
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I’ve been thoroughly dismayed by Facebook the past couple of years. Maybe it’s a quirk of memory, but I don’t remember my feed being so full of political sparring and […]
Have you ever wondered whose job it was to eliminate gruesome content from your news feed? A terrific investigation over at Wired pulls back the curtain on this massive labor-driven endeavor.
Make no mistake: money can buy you happiness. The problem is that many high-salaried Americans overwork themselves to the point where no amount of cash could improve your mood.
Even an Iron Chef can fall into the trap of letting his kids eat junk food. His secret to selling his kids on nutrition is to present good foods in forms and textures they enjoy.
The last serious anti-Big Bang scientists went to their graves lamenting the lack of good alternatives. Here why there are none. Image credit: NASA / WMAP Science Team. “We were […]
Imagine these separate scenarios happening in one week at work: This is the third time you’ve been interrupted by the same person during a single meeting… You offer a suggestion […]
It was fifty years ago that the French philosopher and author Jean-Paul Sartre graciously refused the Nobel Prize for Literature. How different (and more noble?) his world was from ours.
Because intelligence is such a strong genetic trait, rapidly advancing genetics research could result in the ability to create a class of super-intelligent humans one-thousand times higher in IQ than today’s most brilliant thinkers.
Psychophysics secretly permeates our people-sciences (it assumes we’re motivated by physics-like forces). But as every infant—each a great causality detector—knows, but many scientists ignore, people aren’t biological billiard balls. 1. […]
While it’s more pleasant to be pleasant with those around you, being a crank can have its benefits when it comes to getting your way.
For those of us young enough to have grown up in a world in which the internet has always been a thing, these maps of the web from 10-15 years ago are practically relics from an ancient time.
“War is simply a continuation of political intercourse, with the addition of other means,” Carl von Clausewitz wrote in his famous book on battle strategy, On War. Many misquote that […]
“People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.”
Kip Tindell, CEO of the Container Store, explains that his employees are the company’s most valuable asset and that it’s important to pay them what their worth to foster a positive workplace culture.
There is a point beyond which life is no longer worth living, both because of diminished mental and physical capacities, and because of how the living will remember us.
Two astronomers have a new theory which suggests that intelligent life on planet Earth may be as old as can be expected in our galaxy.
The Norwegian town of Lillestrøm recently undertook an experiment that demonstrated the economic value of emission-free transportation by giving cash to its citizens.
Although Isaac Asimov declined to participate in a 1959 government-run conference for anti-ballistic missile technology he did pen some thoughts about the nature of creativity.
Two U.N. rapporteurs have advised Detroit’s government that its actions risk violating international human rights norms as a result of its shutoff policy.
A great number of stories in the Western “literary” canon were not written to be read at all, but rather to be seen on stage in the purview of the live theatre.
We often extrapolate from coincidental events to say they “happen for a reason,” suggesting that there is a greater meaning to them. Even atheists do it, but is it good for us or society?
And what it might — and might not — give us useful insights into. Image credit: Karen46 of http://www.freeimages.com/profile/karen46. “The anthropic principle – the idea that our universe has the properties it does because […]
Mark Hatch, a leader of the Maker Movement, is CEO of the DIY workshop TechShop. Hatch explains how TechShop allows makers the opportunity to harness its resources to innovate and create amazing things.
Some neuromyths — incorrect statements about how the brain works — have become “common knowledge,” repeated by educators and used to influence everything from public policy to parenting practices. It’s time for that to change.
Serial tech entrepreneur Bryan Johnson has established a $100,000,000 fund to support start-ups that seek to bring about a sci-fi future in the present.
Ayah Bdeir had a dream – take electronics out of the hands of experts and large companies and put them in the hands of ordinary people in order to make […]
Where most designers with a focus on senior living strive to make tasks easier, Tommy Dykes hopes his designs will encourage curiosity and promote conversation.
With the iconic pillars and fairy inside, this star-forming region in our galactic plane just might be the most spectacular of them all. Image credit: ESO, via http://www.eso.org/public/images/eso0926a/. “The most […]
About 75% of Americans aged 18 to 30 disenfranchised themselves by not voting in the 2010 midterm elections. The Economist recently explored the political apprehensions of the country’s most fickle voter bloc.