After September 11, 2001, Congress gave extraordinary powers to the executive branch to combat terrorism. Is the pendulum finally swinging back?
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Although the exoplanets themselves may have a high proportion of rock, the atmospheric layer is so deep, hot, and hydrogen-rich that they may never become Earth-like.
Images from NASA’s Cassini probe show a weather phenomenon that’s never been observed on any other planet in the solar system, including ours.
Cancer deaths in the US are down 20% since they peaked in 1991, a new American Cancer Association study reports. That’s very good news, no matter how you assess the data. […]
YouTube, Facebook, and similar companies looking to grow outside of the US and Europe are finding a good fit in a country with a culture that’s already extra-social.
According to a new survey, nearly two-thirds of Facebook users have taken a voluntary break from the site in the past, and over a quarter plan to reduce their usage this year.
Did you know that time travel was possible? It really is. For example, you can visit remote parts of the Amazon River and meet people who are living just as […]
Starting today, the company’s iBookstore will give prominent display space to a selection of popular self-published “Breakout Books.”
What do you get when you add the total matter of the universe to the total energy of the universe? Zero. “So it takes no energy to create a universe,” Dr. Kaku points out. “A universe is a free lunch.”
Despite the launch of Google Fiber in Kansas City, many ISPs don’t have enough incentives to provide the technology to the average subscriber. However, some communities are working to get it.
So Paul LeBlanc, president of Southern New Hampshire University, graciously and thoughtfully responded in the thread to my post complaining about his disruptive understanding of education that reduced to the “traditional” college […]
“The nest of wickedness is ablaze,” reads the caption in a newly released video from North Korea’s official website, Uriminzokkiri. The video, which features a chilling misappropriation of “We Are the […]
What was first, the chicken or the map? That question is perhaps as unanswerable as the one featuring hen vs. egg [1]. Not that it matters. Stare long enough at […]
“Humbug,” harrumphed Minimalist/Conceptual artist Carl Andre recently in response to a question about Conceptualism in art today. “I think it is humbug myself,” Andre announced, channeling his inner Ebeneezer. “That […]
A study shows that explicit content is disturbingly easy for young people to access via the site’s Recommended Videos panel.
Did you see Life of Pi or Cloud Atlas? How about Prometheus or Avatar? Have you picked up a bestseller by Deepak Chopra or Eckhart Tolle? Do you ever leaf […]
The 21st century requires a new kind of learner—not someone who can simply churn out answers by rote, but a student who can think expansively and solve problems resourcefully.
At least 20 cities have canceled festivities in the wake of last month’s deadly nightclub fire, but most others are expected to continue with the celebrations despite the country’s ongoing self-reflection about the tragedy.
The state-owned railway company overrode the wishes of its all-male engine drivers’ union in order to grow the numbers.
“The Super Bowl shows what million-dollar players and coaches are truly made of when the stakes matter most,” says leadership coach Stephen Miles, founder and CEO of The Miles Group. “The Ravens-49ers […]
Nothing is a physical concept, because it’s the absence of something. “What we’ve learned over the last hundred years,” Lawrence Krauss says, “is that nothing is much more complicated than we would’ve imagined otherwise.”
The majority of academic economists actually agree on plenty of topics of huge importance to the public and private sectors.
Americans have always disagreed, about a lot. Somehow though, we’ve managed to get along with each other while we do. Why, then, has disagreeing become so nasty, so fierce, […]
Activist groups and the government are working to help rectify a housing shortage caused by jumps in both unemployment and property costs.
The law, which introduced severe restrictions, went into effect almost two years after a school shooting left 16 primary school students dead.
Recall Anthony Comstock (1844-1915), America’s “archprude” and upholder of Victorian morality. Comstock devoted his life to denouncing art he deemed “obscene, lewd or indecent.” In response to a New York […]
A bionic man named Rex, currently on display at London’s Science Museum, is showing how close technology has gotten to imitating natural human systems and even improving on them.
Social scientists have recognized that income over a certain threshold fails to increase the amount of the happiness the earner experiences, but spending on others may return more happiness.
Chronically nice people run the risk of burning themselves out and isolating the group of people they seek to help in the first place. Learning to say “no” is an important skill, say sociologists.
We often find ourselves working against our own best wishes, but why? It’s not merely a matter of procrastination and willpower, say psychologists, but of taking our emotional temperature.