Who gets to say who owns our libraries, and what are the risks embedded in making a library profit-driven? The New York Times choice to give Library Systems and Services […]
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GOP senate hopeful Sharron Angle will see your lunacy and raise you. These days it’s fashionable to claim that vaccination is a Big Pharma/Big Government conspiracy to cause autism. Angle […]
Design and innovation powerhouse IDEO is known for using design thinking and keen behavioral insight to reinvent object, products and systems that touch our daily lives. Most recently, they envisioned […]
The United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) has announced that it will consider drafting protocols for what to do when we finally make contact with extra-terrestrial civilizations in […]
Borders are to maps what icing is to cakes. Tracing their course between countries and across continents is a source of great enjoyment for the cartophile, as is contemplating their […]
As the world grows more interconnected, support for developing countries should be an even bigger concern, says former Irish President Mary Robinson. A failed state like Somalia, which lacks any […]
Did Harvard Business School contribute to the financial crisis that stunned the world for the past few years? Former dean Jay Light says it’s possible that HBS—and business schools generally—may […]
Big Think today features a new set of interviews with NIH director Francis Collins, perhaps best known as the former director of the Human Genome Project and for his books […]
Sometimes I think “entitled” is the new “uppity.” It’s the new all-purpose put down for anyone who seems too aware of their own power. By way of backstory, college journalism […]
Two insightful articles in the New York Times this past week highlighted the very nascent trend of using technology as a philosophical concept to educate children. Kevin Kelly wrote about […]
The National Review and conservative commentators such as Ross Douthat describe the GOP’s Pledge as “bolder” and more align with conservative values than 1994’s Contract with America. Yesterday, in critiquing […]
Busy weekend (well, mostly grading, but that does eat time like you wouldn’t believe), so here are some quick hits from the news file: Busy Indonesia: As people begin to […]
On this rainy Monday morning … Let’s hop in the Wayback Machine and head to the year 2009. Back in May of that year, we spent a lot of time […]
“For decades, it has been obvious that development aid as a rule achieves exactly the opposite of that which is desired.” Spiegel on the Millennium Development Goals.
“The United Nations has appointed Earth’s ambassador should aliens touch down in the near future. Their selection? Malaysian astrophysicist Mazlan Othman.”
Surprising conclusions from the social sciences: the benefits of keeping the minimum wage low, eye-witness gullibility, why pain is good and what bedroom furniture says about evolution.
“The platforms of social media are built around weak ties. Twitter is a way of following (or being followed by) people you may never have met.”
“Forget wind power or conventional solar power, the world’s energy needs could be met 100 billion times over using a satellite to harness the solar wind and beam the energy to Earth.”
Columbia professor of philosophy Akeel Bilgrami asks why we read literature when it contains information more readily found in non-fiction journals. The answer is in the medium’s pathos.
“Experiments on a blind man who can ‘see’ to avoid obstacles could have huge implications for the visually impaired.” The Independent reports on neurological research.
A new survey from the Mayo Clinic finds nearly half of its medical students engage in unprofessional practice and most have no opinion on pharmaceutical company policies.
“Among the winners: computer screens that can bend, adjustable eyeglasses, a low-cost genetic test, an online marketplace for receivables and a new way to battle malware.”
“An ABC News/Yahoo News poll revealed that today, only half of us think the American dream—which the pollsters defined as ‘if you work hard you’ll get ahead’—still holds true.”
In last week’s cover story at New York magazine on the forthcoming Facebook biopic “The Social Network,” the film’s screenwriter Aaron Sorkin offers his pessimism about the nature and impact […]
In 1994, as part of their successful gambit to gain control of the House, Newt Gingrich and other GOP leaders issued the “Contract with America,” a promise to pass eight […]
Three days ago, I predicted here that Ed Miliband would be elected leader of the UK Labour Party. He was, and on the narrowest of margins. Ed Miliband is of […]
When Dr. Francis Collins was nominated by President Obama to be director of the National Institutes of Health in the summer of 2009, there was little dissent in Congress. One […]
Who will be the Republican candidate for president in 2012? Sarah Palin recently said after a trip to Iowa that she would run “if nobody else stepped up” with solutions […]
“In sending troops into Somalia, the Ugandan president is doing Washington’s bidding and endangering his country.” England’s The Guardian assesses U.S. foreign policy.
“Playing hours of video games won’t necessarily turn your brain to mush. In fact, playing action video games rewires how the brain steers hand-eye coordination.”