All Articles

A short essay argues that most institutions should immediately institute moratoriums on hiring new faculty and building new facilities, and that universities need to focus on clarifying their value proposition in a world of ‘commodity [higher] education.’

New crowdsourcing techniques can be used in amazingly constructive ways. Alternatively, these same techniques may be used as tools that exploit human labor and utilize it for evil purposes.   

Does the rise of the robots doom us all to unemployment? The answer is most certainly no. Provocative claims that the United States has reached “peak jobs” and will soon […]

On sale today, the updated “Life in the United Kingdom” study guide, traditionally used as the basis for the written citizenship test, has replaced practical questions with cultural ones.

The ambitious goal is part of an €8 billion program designed to put more electric vehicles and hybrids on roads across the continent.

Cash-strapped towns are reevaluating church holdings and their use in hopes of claiming much-needed tax revenue. In response, the church asks why they’re being singled out.

Local authorities have banned any property improvements, including balconies and certain bathroom conversions, that may raise rents and force established residents out.

I’m pleased to announce that a book that I’ve spent much of the past two years working on with Graham Allison and Robert Blackwill, Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand Master’s […]

Ever since our first digital search we’ve all spent increasing amounts of time on the web looking for the information we need. Since most of us are in a hurry, […]

“In my line of work, we often talk about the art of diplomacy as we try to make people’s lives a little better around the world,” Secretary of State Hillary […]

A new meta-study out of NYU, which asks whether parents can directly increase their children’s IQ, has found that not all accepted methods of boosting intelligence are effective.

Harvard medical researcher Ted Kaptchuk is finding that how placebos are administered plays a very important role in their ability to cause positive and negative physiological changes.

Futurist and soon-to-be director of engineering at Google, Ray Kurzweil has made a habit of making predictions about future technology as accurate as they are bold. Now he wants to live longer. 

The tide is turning against the sophistication associated with having a nightcap before bed. Sleep specialists say any alcohol is likely to disrupt our rest and keep us from dreaming. 

Recent research on what motivates friendship in human and animals societies has challenged theories of evolutionary biology which suggest reciprocal bonds are formed simply to survive. 

It might not be pleasant to hear but there’s little reason to disagree with Sir David Attenborough’s pronouncement that “we are a plague on the Earth”. Of course, in terms […]

My favorite Baltimorean iconoclast, filmmaker John Waters, had a wonderful line during a local NPR interview a few years ago. The topic had turned to same-sex marriage campaigns and Waters […]

The use of micron-sized lights as a delivery method is being researched by a consortium of UK universities hoping to make optical wireless communication a reality.

The FDA has given clearance to the first-ever autonomous robot for use in medical settings. With it, doctors can examine patients from a remote location.

If you live in Germany, that is: A court has ruled that a man should receive compensation due to being deprived of what they say is a necessity for daily life.

So Joe Carter, a particularly able blogger, mocks the indignation of the North Carolina legislators who want to keep people on welfare from being able to play the state-run lottery. […]

Lance Armstrong simply didn’t (or doesn’t) grasp the purpose of feelings. He believed that the off feeling in his gut was a sign to wage war. So he did just that — and you know the rest.

One salient feature of the United States in the 21st century is a belief that our school system – from pre-kindergarten to higher education – is failing us. There are […]

Ask most people to describe a “robot,” and they’d probably start to describe something vaguely human-looking, maybe something a little metallic or shiny with limbs. Something like the Roboy. Or WALL-E. Or […]

The government announced on Thursday that it’s launching a Start-Up Visa program this spring to encourage entrepreneurs to immigrate. Included in the deal: Immediate access to investors.

In Germany, it’s serious enough such that later this year, some car models will include active safety systems that recognize signs and alert drivers.

Scientists in the UK have sketched workable plans to encode hard data onto strands of human DNA which, instead of decaying like computers, would last three billion years or more.

“Being a submissive or dutiful patient doesn’t always pay off,” says Susan Gubar, professor emerita of English at Indiana University. “Sometimes it’s good to be bad.”

One of the most unforgettable spiritual and artistic experiences I’ve encountered in my life happened in the Sistine Chapel years ago. Straining my neck as fellow tourists did the same, […]

Bioethicist Daniel Callahan has made a case for the public derision of people who overeat in a style similar to how smokers have been sent outside, taxed more and are generally stigmatized.