Safety regulations have lagged in the relatively new industry of renewable energy. From solar panels to wind turbines, workers can be put in harms way if precautions aren’t taken.
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N.A.S.A. is working with the private space exploration company, SpaceX, to plan a mission to Mars that would cost ‘millions, not billions’. The mission would search for signs of life.
Chronic disease plagues personal lives and public policy. Sheer numbers only begin to give a glimpse of the associated suffering, cost and scope of the problem. In the United States […]
Stewart Brand’s famous maxim, “Information Wants to be Free,” has been, for more than 25 years, one of the most popular rallying cries of the Digital Age. These words have […]
A love story for the 21st century (cue the violins). Several years ago a very close family friend in Vancouver was searching our family name on the Internet and had […]
A recently published collection of essays by economists — Consequences of Economic Downturn: Beyond the Usual Economics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011) — tackles that question. The book’s editor is Martha Starr, […]
By passing a deal to raise the debt ceiling, Congress averted a crisis that is entirely of the own making. If Congress had failed to reach an agreement, it would have […]
Today Seth Godin blogged: When the truth is just around the corner … what’s your posture? … When your organization has a chance to see itself as its customers do, […]
Researchers fear that computer acceleration is about to meet its limits. Constantly increasing the number of transistors on chips could require too much power to run economically.
Hackers are usually shadowy figures. So why are Anonymous and LulzSec dancing in the lime light, painting themselves as charismatic outlaws? Are they valiant or just P.R. savvy?
A recent study finds that the technology can help researchers locate people’s social security numbers, just from the information on their Facebook profiles and their photo.
A new tool interrupts the ‘infinite loops’ that cause computer hang-ups, letting users save data and finish tasks before restarting a stalled program.
A new approach to overcoming state-level Internet censorship relies, ironically enough, on a technique that security experts have frequently associated with government surveillance.
What if colonisers and colonised swapped places (and climates)?
The literary essay I’ve enjoyed most this year has been “The Stockholm Syndrome Theory of Long Novels,” published by The Millions back in May. In it, Mark O’Connell argues that […]
Salvador Dalí never worked small. In fact, he was downright operatic in everything he did—colorful, bombastic, and loud. Now, Dalí the painter is finally Dalí the Opera. Yo, Dalí (“I, […]
Observing how radical political ideas had become mainstream in only a few years, in 1888 the Victorian politician Sir William Harcourt is supposed to have said “we are all socialists […]
Playing it safe is no longer a career option for most Americans, if it ever was. And that’s good news, in one sense: the downside of job security is that it dulls your appetite for risk, and your ability to learn from failure.
Oxford University Philosopher Nick Bostrom argues that we may all be living in a computer simulation. Meanwhile, the world as we know it is becoming ever more virtualized.
At ClimateWire today [subscription], Julia Pyper has an article on an important topic: How can scientists and journalists work together to improve public understanding of climate change? What are the […]
Over the last few weeks, there has been a lot of buzz in the volcano world (at least in the internet) after some seismicity under El Hierro, one of the […]
This conservative post has nothing to do with the ISI conference, but it does have to do with education. All over the internet, we find the conclusion that America is […]
After tens of thousands of Israelis took to the streets to demonstrate against rising housing prices and the high cost of living, the government has agreed to meet with the protesters.
Thanks to everyone who responded to last week’s request for thoughts on the Sherlock Holmes series that has taken up the blog for the last few weeks. I was surprised […]
The Syrian government has killed nearly 142 people, including at least 100 when the army stormed the protest city of Hama to crush dissent on the eve of Ramadan, political activists say.
Lack of rain in the hyper-arid regions of Somalia, Ethiopia, and northern Kenya is creating a humanitarian crisis as pastoral communities move in search of food and water.
For all our talk of living in a globalized world, there is far less international exchange of people, goods and information than we would expect. How can we encourage globalization?
With the deal reached Sunday night, the U.S. has a good chance of escaping the debt crisis with its credit intact, but the government may not be so lucky with its reputation.
Italy’s (second) most famous volcano, Mt. Etna, has been quite busy while I’ve been off in California. Many of you have been following Etna on the webcams and leaving lots […]
With the nerve wracking threat of a default by America on its outstanding debt being broadcast on all the news channels practically twenty four hours a day, I am reading […]