Given his devotion to empirical fact, it seems odd to think that Galileo’s most important ideas might have their roots not in the real world, but in a fictional one.
All Articles
Across the Internet the use of “Dear” is going the way of sealing wax; email has come to be viewed as informal even when used as formal communication.
It seems inevitable that the number of books sold through bookstores will plummet, says Judge Posner. Traditional bookstores are doomed, concurs Nobel Laureate Becker.
Violence in American politics tends to bubble up from a world that’s far stranger than any Glenn Beck monologue, says the conservative columnist Ross Douthat.
The Arizona shooting suspect has been called ‘unstable,’ and no motive has been identified. But did the vitriol in the debates over immigration and health care trigger the attack?
In 15 to 20 years, says futurist Ray Kurzweil, a biotechnology revolution will yield powerful ways for us to reprogram our genes. Our bodies will be altered on the genetic […]
The foremost quality that makes wood wood, both as a material and as a metaphor, is its inflexible rigidity. Dutch designer Carolien Laro, however, has challenged this age-old conception with […]
When a disaster devastates a country’s infrastructure, we tend to think about physical infrastructure damages — roads, telecommunication, delivery routes. But the damage to information systems can often be even […]
Sometimes I find myself feeling sorry for Thomas Robert Malthus. You remember Malthus, he was the one who argued that humanity was destined to remain in poverty because every time […]
Yemen is a confusing place and of all the opaque places within the country my vote for the most confusing is Abyan. Last week we talked about jihadi tensions that […]
Country Strong hasn’t been taken seriously by film critics. I’m not going to review what they’ve said or speculate on why they said it. I’m just going to explain why […]
Today, Saudi Arabia is out with a new wanted list of 47 men it believes have fled the kingdom and joined the jihad abroad. Many, according to this AFP report, […]
In a recent article, MSNBC called Facebook the divorce lawyer’s new best friend. Social media allows people to easily meet and flirt with attractive people, diverting attention and time away from […]
The Republican Party owns hate speech in America the way Bill Gates owns Microsoft. But by the end of the day, what’s left of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords life will be […]
Having a larger waistline may shrink your brain. Obesity is linked to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, which is known to be associated with cognitive impairment.
An analysis by The Economist finds that over the ten years to 2010, no fewer than six of the world’s ten fastest-growing economies were in sub-Saharan Africa.
Maybe the danger of digital culture to young people is not that they have hummingbird attention spans but that they are going deaf.
Treasury Secretary Geithner’s letter to Congress on the debt ceiling warns that if Washington doesn’t raise the government’s borrowing limit, the economy will face catastrophe.
Trader Anthony Grisanti claims that market consolidation and electronic trading have driven up the price of oil and taken the power out of the hands of the traditional pit trader.
British military scientists plan to develop an army of “invisible” tanks ready for use on the battlefield within five years. The tanks will use electronic camouflage.
Media and technology companies cozied up to each other at the Consumer Electronics Show this week, touting their collaborations on stage and flaunting their friendships.
Iraq finally has a new government after months of deadlock, but the cynical horsetrading has damaged the image of politics. Residents of Baghdad no longer trust their fellow citizens.
What if more modest agreements—on climate change, loose nukes, and other sweeping problems—would yield better results than a long, noble quest for a grand bargain?
The unreasoned and intemperate Web commentary on the shooting of Congresswoman Giffords is shameful and embarrassing, says the L.A. Times.
The flat earthers who refuse to believe that there is global warming or that sea levels are rising have had a good couple of months in the Northern hemisphere. They […]
On a day filled with tragic images of the shooting of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and 18 others, it seems absurd to blog about anything else. As advertised, this is […]
On New Year’s Day, a bomb exploded outside a Coptic church in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, killing 21 people and injuring 79 more. It was the deadliest terrorist attack […]
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) was shot in the head and severely wounded by a gunman who ran up to her at a campaign event in a Tucson supermarket parking lot […]
New data shows that the more people drink, the more they exercise. Scientists offer different explanations, such as a tendency toward a “sensation-taking lifestyle.”
Despite being considered one of the greatest American novels, “Huckleberry Finn” is the fourth most banned book in U.S. schools. Now the N-word is being removed by one publisher.