Quick post (Department commitments now), but in an attempt to get comments working again, I’ve opened this new thread. I’ll inquire about the problem with the comments – my guess […]
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While coal has long supplied energy to the Navajo tribe in Arizona, new inspiration and political will is calling for renewable energy to build the society’s future.
“Researchers find they can alleviate depression in mice by boosting a protein in one part of the brain.” Technology Review on how gene therapy could be used in humans.
In 1916, Dr. T. Kenard Thomson proposed increasing N.Y.C.’s property value by creating a land bridge between Manhattan and Brooklyn and building an island off the Jersey shore.
France’s new Internet piracy police has been scouring the Web for illegal downloaders of films and music, sending warning emails to suspected intellectual property thieves.
Does wine taste better in certain phases of the moon? Catherine Nixey examines a 20th century theory that says earth’s satellite affects the taste of the vintage.
“The Bible exhorts us to love our neighbors. But what about our colleagues? Do we really need to love the people we work with?” Dr. Paul Zak on why love is essential in the workplace.
New research suggests that people are more comfortable with being dishonest on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook than when speaking face-to-face.
“The west still rules—but this will change in the coming decades; indeed, geography may cease to matter.” Ian Morris says the rate of global change is accelerating.
“The differences between Twitter and Facebook mirror a longstanding debate about how the human brain processes other people.” The Frontal Cortex explains.
From high-speed rail and congestion pricing to privatization, Americans debate the best ways to invest in infrastructure and stimulate economic activity.
As Foreign Affairs, the sine qua non of policy journals, changes editorial hands, outgoing Editor Jim Hoge has given the world a great gift: a selection of suggestions for What […]
Yesterday’s post ended by suggesting that a single-minded obsession with population actually distracts people from the difficult realities of the quest for sustainability in this century. Lest this sound like […]
In another nod to biomimicry as a potent source of design and engineering innovation, researchers at Princeton University have developed a new sensor that can change the way drugs and […]
The word “occult” is loaded with all sorts of associations. To some it conjures images of devil worship and witchcraft; to others it is just a concoction of superstition and […]
The War of the Worlds dramatization that aired October 30, 1938 has been called “the most famous radio show of all time.”
The signs were all there that Merapi was headed towards a new eruptive phase and today at ~6 PM (local time in Indonesia), Merapi erupted. This is a double (possibly […]
At the Washington Post yesterday, staff writer Paul Fahri described several of the emerging areas of research on The Daily Show and similar forms of political parody. The feature emphasizes […]
“Beautifully preserved bees, ants, spiders and other small prehistoric creatures that lived 50 million years ago have been unearthed in a huge amber deposit in India.”
“Governments don’t want to admit the failure of health-care or surveillance systems, and they are afraid of the trade and travel sanctions that may result from a large outbreak.”
Software developer Steve Laniel says that if we really want the Information Age rather than the Chatter Age, there’s only one solution: relearn self-control.rn
“The creator of America’s first and best satirical daily newspaper cartoon talks about 40 years of upsetting politicians and editors.”
“Mentally disturbed people are not merely paying a personal price for our social sanity, but are sometimes gifted too in their own peculiar way.”
“What makes cobras kings is not just their size, or their deadliness…it is that they eat other snakes. How does the king cobra maintain such an apparently high-risk lifestyle?”
“Our self-image is one of bold action. In reality, Americans resist change, pressing the government to act boldly only when a national calamity forces it upon us.”
“One obvious problem for many porn users is the conflict between their stated belief in equality and respect for women, and the material they’re watching in private.”
“American journalists in Baghdad were under attack not just from Iraqi insurgents, but, at least verbally, from our own country’s civilian and military commanders as well.”
A US study into adult creativity has discovered that the more an adult acts and thinks like a child, the more imaginative he or she becomes.
Large-scale drainage projects were popular in the early 20th century – but most came to nothing.