By mid-century there will likely be 9 billion people on the planet, consuming ever more resources and leading ever more technologically complex lives.
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Captain Mike Ellis of Venice, Louisana describes how BP is incinerating endangered sea turtles in its attempt to burn off spilled oil floating in the Gulf of Mexico near the […]
China’s currency, the renminbi, closed Friday at its strongest level against the US dollar since China revamped its currency policies in 2005, The New York Times reported. This development comes […]
A new partnership between design hotshop IDEO and furniture-maker Steelcase aims to address one of the biggest design challenges of traditional classrooms – the static, linear and restrictive nature of […]
If I want you to give time or money to my cause, I’ll say your sacrifice is for “people just like you, just like me,” for “communities like yours, all […]
Back in the summer of 2002, I tried unsuccessfully to be selected as the Labour Party candidate for the South Wales constituency of Ogmore, named after the former mining valley […]
“For me, the lesson…is that obstacles can also be advantages, that who we become is deeply influenced by what we cannot do” — Jonah Lehrer on stuttering and Tourette’s.
“Next time you visit a car dealership, avoid sitting in soft chairs and you’ll negotiate a better deal.” Psychology Today on the unconscious impact of texture, hardness and weight.
“I realized they were this…enormous force of nature…who determined how the West opened.” Author S.C. Gwynne’s on what inspired his new book.rn
The L. A. Times says plastic bags are a nuisance to the land, sea and animals and calls for the Californian Senate to stand up now to the bag industry and ban them.
Spiegel considers if the rush to uncover Europe’s most pious Muslims can be explained solely by a new-found desire to protect the rights of women.
The New York Review of Books considers claims that Americans do not read enough foreign fiction and examines the cost of this alleged, “culturally catastrophic American isolationism.”
Sarah Jessica Parker’s Manolo Blahniks are out and Grandma Walton’s sensible apron is in in The Economist’s depiction of the world in the aftermath of the age of easy credit.
When you celebrate yourself online, are you part of a brave new social future, or are you just being an ass? Evan Ratliff, in Wired, says it’s the former, if you strike a balance.
Science journal Nature defends the World Health Organization’s handling of the H1N1 pandemic, amid a European council’s claims of unjustified fears and wasted spending.
“The greatness of Australia was on display…when a migrant woman became the nation’s 27th prime minister”, The Australian newspaper writes of new leader Julia Gillard.
Thanks to years of conservative pushback, the United States Census looks like a huge waste of time and taxpayer money to many Americans. Even worse, many Americans misconceive the census […]
Sharron Angle is running for U.S. Senate in Nevada on the GOP ticket, but the Tea Party darling wasn’t always a Republican. Angle’s political career began in the far-right fringe […]
Is it fun to watch our finest writers being witty with one another, as it’s fun to watch Federer play Nadal? There are similarities. They rise to the occasion. Lauren […]
Juries are disproportionately white. Although it is illegal to dismiss potential jurors on the basis of their race, lawyers can give any reason they want for dismissing a juror, and they […]
Actor and activist Judith Light, who has played a wide variety of major roles on and off the screen over the past three decades says that preparing for a role […]
2010 is barely halfway through and it’s already been the most disastrous year in modern history. Suddenly, disaster relief becomes not just a playground of humanitarian agency manifestos but a […]
We received a lot of great contributions for our Bret Easton Ellis question contest! Some of our favorite contributions came from the following Big Thinkers: Arlinda Shtun, who asked: “If […]
Eliot Spitzer will be returning to media spotlight once again, albeit under very different circumstances. The New York Times reports that Spitzer, the former Democratic governor of New York, has […]
Jill Tarter, Director of the Center for SETI Research, is searching for signs of extraterrestrial life. But what kinds of signals is she hoping to find? Tarter explains that her […]
One of industrial life’s strange traditions is the pinup calendar that shows nubile young women posing provocatively around tractor parts and turbines. Eizo, a maker of medical-imaging technology, decided to […]
Manute Bol’s dream of building schools in his war-torn home of Sudan lives on through his charity, Sudan Sunrise. His untimely death brings to life the magnanimity of an NBA curiosity.
Buyer beware: cigarette companies, no longer allowed to use words like “light” or “mild” to advertise, are turning to the psychology of colors to “reframe” the hazards of smoking.
Garrison Keillor on the myth of merit: “I was brought up imagining that cream rises to the top, merit wins out, the race is to the swift and riches to men of understanding, but it ain’t necessarily so.”
From solar and hydrogen powered concept planes to better designed, more fuel-efficient standard aircrafts, the airline industry is slowly turning greener, says The Christian Science Monitor.