How would a medical audience respond to a lecture that was completely devoid of content, yet delivered with authority by a convincing phony? Overwhelmingly positively…
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Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker’s research looks at how language exists in our minds, and how it informs the way we create social relationships.
Tod Machover, who has been called America’s most wired composer, is poised to transform your theater experience forever. His new opera “Death and the Powers,” will be unveiled on September […]
According to a recent press release: NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, will complete the exploration phase of its mission on Sept. 16, after a number of successes that transformed […]
Every week, it seems, we get more bad news about the economy. Today the Census Bureau reported that the median household income in the U.S. fell several hundred dollars in […]
If you are not a regular viewer of The Daily Show or The Colbert Report, you might be surprised by results from Pew’s latest news audience report. In the national […]
Great post by Thomas MacAulay Millar on the case of “FV,” a teenage runaway who was allegedly tortured, pimped, and nearly killed by a middle aged man who took her […]
One of my roommates way back when I was an undergraduate was an Emory Scholar. I can’t remember exactly how many of them were in each class—either twelve or fourteen. […]
Despite their ideological differences, the personalities that drive the success of The Daily Show and Fox News apparently respect–even admire–each others ability to entertain and engage viewers. That’s one of […]
“The intuitive view is that the only thing that really determines whether an act is brave is whether you think the right path is the treacherous one, and take it anyway.”
“Mr. Allen, who has made most of his recent films overseas where it’s easier for him to secure financing, says ‘You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger’ is a good title for the United States.”
“Microsoft’s new web browser, IE9, is its most ambitious yet, as the company bids to take on Google Chrome and Firefox.” The Telegraph reviews the browser’s newest edition.
“What is happening in France today would most likely be referred to as ‘ethnic cleansing’ in less prestigious countries.” Spiegel on President Sarkozy’s campaign against Romanian gypsies.
“News that Ernest C. Withers, a photojournalist who documented the civil-rights movement, was also an F.B.I. informant has been met with mixed reactions from scholars.”
“Aerospace and defense giant Boeing has tossed its hat into the space-tourism ring, announcing that it has agreed to market future rides into Earth orbit to paying customers.”
“The People’s Republic is becoming a technological superpower, but who’s checking the facts?” The New Humanist seeks out the Chinese science cops who fight fabrication and plagiarism.
“Scientists have discovered that starting a romantic relationship typically costs two close friends from the inner circle of intimate contacts that most people rely on for support and advice.”
“A survey of 71 nations placed the U.S. third in entrepreneurial performance, after Denmark and Canada.” America’s frail technology sector and lack of high-growth business is at fault.
“It is little wonder that boxing, more than any other sport, has functioned as a metaphor for life. Aside from the possibilities for self-fulfillment, boxing can also contribute to our moral lives.”
Unhappy with his art, Richard Wright destroyed all of his paintings in the late 1980s and gave up painting altogether for two years. Returning to the art world from that […]
Your friends likely have more friends than you do. Please don’t take that personally. As the sociologist Scott L. Feld was first to point out, this is simply a mathematical […]
You may hate contemporary art, but it hates you even more, says filmmaker and provocateur John Waters. The point of art is to “wreck whatever came before it,” he believes. […]
Anti-masturbation crusader Christine O’Donnell beat establishment favorite Rep. Mike Castle last night in Deleware’s GOP senate primary, with a helping hand from the Tea Party Express. O’Donnell first rose to […]
Daily Show host Jon Stewart is the most trusted man in America. Or at least as Chris Smith writes in a cover story at this week’s New York magazine, in […]
Britain now faces a ‘Winter of Discontent’, which is what many commentators claim will happen each winter, taking their cue from the winter of 1979, when the country ground to […]
PopTech–an organization focused on promoting social innovation and the spread of problem-solving ideas–has announced its inaugural class of 20 Science Fellows. The fellows are early to mid-career leaders in fields […]
A quick programming note: I’ll be off on the Geosciences Fall Field Trip – this year down to the Smokies of southern Tennessee/western North Carolina/northern Georgia – so there won’t […]
“The foods you eat often affect how your neurons behave and, subsequently, how you think and feel. From your brain’s perspective, food is a drug.” This is your brain on food.
MIT historian John Dower examines the history of American militarism through its justifications for military expenditure, namely that other cultures lack the capacity for Western logic.
“Collaboration yields so much of what is novel, useful, and beautiful that it’s natural to try to understand it. Yet looking at achievement through relationships is a new, and even radical, idea.”