Martha Stewart. Bernie Madoff. Scooter Libby. Barry Bonds. They were public figures, leaders, and role models. They were also all liars, in fact, and part of a national epidemic of lying, says the author James Stewart.
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“Why buy a Vermeer when a Metsu is available?” Adriaan E. Waiboer, curator of northern European art at the National Gallery of Ireland, repeats that odd sounding question in the […]
Get ready for a close encounter – In November! For the first time, astronomers have anticipated the arrival of a giant asteroid that will come whizzing by the earth. The […]
Motivation matters. It matters a lot. It matters more than we thought, and might make more of a difference on both performance and life outcomes that we thought possible.
Two months ago I had some serious problems with my web host which led to daily calls with the helpdesk. I soon found out that it was far better to […]
Last night, Italy’s Etna started a new period of eruptive activity – and for those of us watching the webcams, it put on quite a show. You can see video of the […]
It was about 95 degrees as we strolled into the Ames Middle School band concert Tuesday night. Although the outside air was stifling, the air conditioning inside was blissfully cool. […]
More than a third of business owners—Richard Branson and Ted Turner among them—may be dyslexic says a new documentary featuring entrepreneurs who say the reading disorder is a gift.
Designing a computer program that can reliably recognize text and distinguish objects in the real world has proven to be a massive challenge, so scientists outsourced the task—to humans.
Business intelligence software pulls together information from disparate systems, builds relationships between data sets, and lets users explore the information—it also saves money.
In a radical new vision, Google has set out its contempt for computing as we know it, says Matt Warman. Its new laptop declares Windows a failure and the Internet the future of computing.
A new computational model out of M.I.T. can analyze any type of complex network—biological, social or electronic—and reveal the critical points that can be used to control the entire system.
“We might ask ourselves,” writes Noam Chomsky about the Bin Laden mission, “how we would be reacting if Iraqi commandos landed at George W. Bush’s compound, assassinated him, and dumped […]
“Art,” Auguste Rodin once said, “is only a kind of love. I know quite well that bashful moralists will stop up their ears. But what! I express in a loud […]
After seeing how mobile and social networking technologies led to popular revolutions in places like Tunisia and Egypt, is it possible that we’ll soon see a similar type of revolution inour own backyard?
Among the many deplorable effects of reading this blog, according to old-school journalists, is that you can’t count on what The New York Times (here, scroll down to section B5) […]
If you love The Economist, you likely know and love its back page, its obituary page. Economist obituaries are models of the magazine’s style and, more broadly, models of a […]
Salman Khan envisions the kind of school he would like to send his own son to. In a way it resembles the one-room schoolhouses of yesteryear, where teachers and peers alike are empowered to act as mentors, humanizing the classroom.
This just came in via Dr. Boris Behncke (on Twitter) – after some signs such as increasing seismicity that activity was about to start on Etna, sure enough, the volcano […]
The first issue of the Journal of Animal Ethics unexpectedly ruffled some feathers with an editorial note on terminology. The editors raised critics’ hackles by calling upon contributors to use […]
The death of Osama Bin Laden caught the country by surprise. There was no warning, no preamble, no crescendo of media build up, just a simple announcement that crackled through […]
Three months after popular protests began in earnest, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Salih continues to cling to power. His military has split. Powerful tribal shaykhs have deserted him and protesters […]
Today I just wanted to bring up a few examples of bad “science” floating around the internet. Finding articles/posts like these always get me riled up, but I wonder how […]
Andreas Tziolas of Project Icarus overviews the general Icarus mission timeline, with a focus on the propulsion techniques that will be required to support the fusion-propelled interstellar vehicle.
A study from U.S. environmental scientists suggests that a method of extracting natural gas from shale rock increases methane concentrations in drinking water taken from nearby wells.
An asteroid the size of an aircraft carrier will come closer to Earth this autumn than our own moon does, causing scientists to hold their breath (with excitement, not worry) as it zooms by.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has released its first-ever detailed analysis of alternative energy technologies and their potential role in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions.
Diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease at the age of 21, Hawking, like Einstein, is as famous for his story as for his science. The physicist recently open up about his life experiences in Arizona.
Aging is new. Lifespans today in the industrialized world are 30-40 years more than they were 100 years ago. Older adults are among the fastest growing cohorts in developing economies. […]
Today, Dr. Kaku addresses a question posed by Peth Kwanchit: Will I be able to talk to my dog through a translator?