“Sir Isaac had a whole other full-time career that he kept largely hidden from view but that rivaled and sometimes surpassed his devotion to celestial mechanics.”
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“Peter Diamond’s Nobel prize in economics is an unusual example of useful economics combined with timely politics.” The Guardian on the would-be government appointee.
“Aboriginal Creation myths tell of the legendary totemic beings who had wandered over [Australia] in the Dreamtime, singing out the name of everything that crossed their path — birds, animals, […]
“I tend to think of the exhibitions I do as a loose accumulation of paintings with no single theme—like a variety show,” artist Glenn Brown said in 2007. “A comedy […]
When a major earthquake struck Haiti in January, it caused unbelievable damage and many created a humanitarian nightmare. But it also served as a wake-up call for other Caribbean nations […]
At the heart of every galaxy like our own Milky Way lies a supermassive black hole, but scientists are unsure which develops first.
Republican senate candidate Sharron Angle says that teenagers who are raped should make lemonade out of lemons by bearing their attackers’ children. Angle is one of several senate candidates who […]
Not every scientific paper is great work, as any scientist will tell you. But shoddy work gets ignored or quickly debunked. There is an enormous incentive for scientists to debunk […]
Over at the NY Times’s Green blog, Todd Woody has an update on the Proposition 23 race, reporting that environmentalists opposed to the ballot measure have opened a sizable fund-raising […]
Physicist and Big Think blogger Michio Kaku is the closest thing the world has to real-life wizard. With his shocking white hair, he makes prophesies about fantastic technologies that science […]
Rep Bruce Braley (D-Ia) paid a visit to the “headquarters,” of the American Future Fund, a shadowy 501(c)4 group that has spent nearly $1 million to defeat him in the […]
Research suggests that not only are male and female brains different, but that they exist on a spectrum with autism and psychosis at either end.
Because of their biochemical makeup, women are better than men are at managing risk. As a result, female equity managers yield higher returns for their clients and are better at navigating downturns.
Women are still greatly underrepresented in elected office—even though new research shows they may be more effective politicians than their male counterparts.
Welcome to Earth Science Week, everyone! Why not start off with a bang? At the end of last week, there was some buzz in the geoblogosphere and Twitter about a […]
“Virginia Lamp Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, is fighting for what she believes in, and for that she should get enormous credit.”
“As Wikileaks prepares to release more documents on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, will greater accountability follow?” Al Jazeera on the controversial startup.
“Faced with electoral repudiation, Democrats are unleashing government power to silence their political opponents. The press corps ought to blow the whistle.”
“When you lose your job, social stability is likely to be worse—which threatens democracy and even peace.” The I.M.F. sees no immediate end to the economic crisis.
In his new book, bestselling author Steven Johnson discusses the history and sources of innovation. Johnson asks: Where do good ideas come from?
“Poems and novels and paintings were not produced as objects for future academic study; there is no reason to think that they could be suitable objects of ‘research.'”
“The natural human optimism that allows people, election after election, to believe campaign promises also consigns them to repeated bouts of disappointment.”
“Whether on average democracies are more conducive than autocracies to economic growth is far from well established.” Nobel laureate Gary Becker on governments and growth.
“When thinking about the Columbus Day holiday it helps to remember the good intentions of the people who put together the first parade in New York.”
Humans have typically been passive listeners for alien radio frequencies. Should we actively seek out foreign life by sending pre-emptive signals into space?
The 18th century French Neoclassical painter Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres played the violin well enough to hold his own with “Sold His Soul to the Devil” good musicians such as […]
Hours wasted behind the wheel commuting to work, taking kids to school, hurrying for soccer practice and bar mitzvahs, and the frustration caused by traffic jams and road rage – […]
“Eliminate the costs, fiscal and otherwise, of the drug war.” The Chicago Tribune’s Steve Chapman says the war on drugs is a sinkhole; the government should change policy.
“How worried should one be about [full body scans in airports]? Are they truly a grave threat to individual privacy, as civil libertarians contend?”
“Can—and should—science and religion avoid each other’s turf?” Susan Jacoby insists we mustn’t shirk from moments when science and religion offer opposing viewpoints.