Yesterday the City of London moved against the fish porters of Billingsgate Market in London, revoking their licences in a move that would be more familiar to mediaeval Knights than […]
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After reading the David Brooks New York Times column that lauded the courage and guts of GOP Rep. Paul Ryan to actually put together an “adult” congressional budget, one that […]
The aftershocks of the controversy surrounding the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery’s decision to drop David Wojnarowicz’s 1987 video “A Fire in My Belly” from their exhibition Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire […]
Bringing philosophers into the corporation is not an entirely new idea. But in our new era of computational power the Philosopher-Kings will be determining how each of us lives, thinks and feels.
The recent 7.4 magnitude earthquake and tsunami to hit northern Japan on April 7 underscores the delicate situation at the Fukushima reactors. Although workers had to evacuate the site, preliminary […]
Right now, businesses approach all their issues as if they were in a silo. We need to see more integrated approaches that recognize the interconnectedness of the world’s problems.
It may be a bit weird to use the word ‘elegant’ to describe something with the name “Peepoo” but that’s exactly what it is – an absolutely brilliant and elegant […]
One of the most popular Shakespearean analogies presents George W. Bush as Henry V. But does it hold up?
People are rightly hesitant to put all their private data in the hands of big corporations, but Gelernter argues that this is in fact the safest place for it.
Cloud computing means different things to different people, but basically it means that the software you use isn’t on your own personal computer, explains Fried in a 2 minute crash […]
Computer storage and software are already migrating to the cloud, and soon processing power will go virtual as well, making our mobile devices as powerful as supercomputers.
Two of my last posts were about video calls and augmented reality and a possible usage scenario of those technologies in education. Now, what would happen if we combined those […]
Powerful yet tiny particles known as nanostructures will support new antibiotics that act like magnets to destroy bacteria and disease and potentially cancer, according to a new study.
Billionaire explorer Sir Richard Branson plans to take a single-person submarine to the deepest points in each of the world’s five oceans, the first time such a feat has ever been attempted.
Researchers at Michigan State University have built a gasoline engine that could greatly improve the efficiency of gas-electric hybrid automobiles, reducing emissions by 90 percent.
Embryonic stem cells growing in a dish can spontaneously form complex structures resembling the retina—a discovery that could one day help restore sight to the blind.
The trend of solar power getting steadily less expensive is set to continue over the next decade—in sunny parts of the world it is already starting to compete with coal production.
Katrina gave New Orleans two stories to tell: One of disaster and another of innovation. Since 2007, the city has produced far more entrepreneurs than most American cities.
In a move that could shake up the American solar industry, General Electric plans to announce on Thursday that it will build the nation’s largest photovoltaic panel factory.
In the growing industry of cloud computing, I.B.M. is defining the market away from companies like Amazon by wooing bigger customers with promises of security and backup guarantees.
This week, Arizona passed a law that makes it a felony to knowingly terminate a pregnancy that was sought because of the race or sex of the fetus. Karen Franz, […]
Over the past few years, scholars and scientists have been re-examining both the goals and the nature of science communication initiatives. In a guest post today, Melanie Gade reviews much […]
If you could pick as close to an anonymous volcano in the Pacific Northwest, you might be tempted to pick Newberry Caldera in Oregon (I might also take partial credit for […]
A range of environmental issues — from biodiversity to ocean acidification — have linkages to climate change. Yet, given polarized views on climate change, how can these linkages be effectively […]
They both experiment with language, recombining words and phrases in novel ways. Steven Pinker explains how his studies in childhood linguistics try to shed light on linguistic creativity in general.
This is Twilight, for poets. It’s not designed to fly over your head; it’s designed as to shoot straight to your heart.
Rather than hauling heavy atmospheric pumps from earth, the way to create a habitable atmosphere on Mars is to take advantage of its own topology, geography and nature.
Of all the news stories I’ve read over the last few days, the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn has stuck in my mind […]
Ask a student, any student, what ‘R2P’ means, and you can be forgiven for the blank stare you are likely to receive. Flesh it out into ‘Responsibility to Protect’, and you are still likely to get […]