Evolutionary biology may explain differences in mortality risks between genders, says Daniel Kruger at the University of Michigan; men take more risks to attract a mate, i.e. to have sex.
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“Nowhere is it written that the United States can never decline,” says Richard Posner in his analysis of the economic problems befalling the E.U. and U.S. He and Gary Becker propose solutions.
In his new book, Clay Shirky says that what we do with our free time is changing: from passive TV watching to active online engagement, we are motivated by a desire for self-fulfillment.
When a college degree no longer guarantees a good job after leaving university, maybe it’s time to be less pragmatic about career choices and prefer a cultural education to a vocational one.
While researching the Botticelli’s Venus and Mars (shown) at the National Gallery, London, David Bellingham, a program director at Sotheby’s Institute of Art, made an interesting discovery. The fruit held […]
A good analysis of the coming newspaper paywalls was recently written in The Financial Times by John Gapper. The London Times and The New York Times have announced their intention […]
High fructose corn syrup, sedentary lifestyles, endocrine disrupting chemical BPA in our plastic water bottles… we’re already up against enough hurdles when it comes to combating the diabetes epidemic. But […]
“He was almost certainly the best-known man in England in the middle of the nineteenth century, and certainly the most loved,” but was Charles Dicken’s internal life as celebratory?
A new pill which a German pharmaceutical company will soon present to the FDA for approval raises medical and safety concerns since it claims to boost women’s libidos.
“Stop focusing on trying to keep illegal immigrants out and start focusing on letting legal immigrants in,” says Steve Chapman in response to hullabaloo over Arizona’s immigration law.
“Drone strikes may not be perfect, but they’re likely the most humane option available,” writes C. Fair who calls for greater transparency in the currently classified drone program over Pakistan.
“Retirement, like other post-industrial inventions like electricity or television, has become a luxury we’ve come to expect and rely upon,” says the Economist, but it hasn’t always been this way.
“Can aquatic snails better remember lessons learned when they are hopped up on methamphetamine?” Scientific American says the answer could give insight into the nature of addiction.
“The things patients complain about, like excessive noise, may be more than a nuisance. They may actually be bad for their health,” writes Drake Bennett on noise pollution in hospitals.
The British Petroleum rig spilling oil into the Gulf of Mexico pales in comparison to amount of oil spilled annually in Nigeria, a reminder of the double standard when it comes to poor countries.
Nancy Cohen at the L.A. Times says the traditional terms “pro-choice” and “pro-life” are too simplistic to have a constructive debate over abortion; she calls for more nuanced language.
Generation Y is often mocked for its narcissism and supreme self confidence, but Judith Warner writes that pumped-up egos may be just the thing for weathering our economic storm.
In a recent article in The Australian, Matthew Westwood writes about Canadian social scientist Sarah Thornton, whose book Seven Days in the Art World (cover above) “explores the dynamics of […]
You don’t think much about photography until you have a photography major in the house. And then you find yourself looking at the world around you differently, framing dramatic elements […]
Newspapers around the country have begun to fold. The Rocky Mountain News closed in February of last year after 150 years of operation. Some papers, like the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, have […]
Robert Fisk in an institution, a warrior and a stalwart of old media. While writing for an English daily newspaper, The Independent, he spent over three decades reporting on the […]
If you’re after a good night’s sleep, the belief that exercise helps you rest well is more important than exercise itself, says a new Swiss study published in the U.S.
“Today’s college students scored 40 percent lower on a measure of empathy than their elders did,” according to a new study that demonstrates the selfish, competitive nature of the times.
“US fashion commentators are now suggesting that economic strength might also be reflected in the length of men’s swimming trunks,” reports The Guardian. But is it a truncated theory?
“Art is a conversation between and among artists, not a patent office. Reality can’t be copyrighted,” writes David Shields in his spirited defense of artistic appropriation.
“Progress without pollution may sound utterly unrealistic, but businesses are putting green chemistry into practice,” by using more ecologically benign chemicals, writes Scientific American.
Many technological hurdles on the road to building household robots have recently been cleared leaving one nagging question in the air—just what do we need them for?
“If Americans were to learn of wartime inequalities, the public would become more circumspect about future military action,” writes Douglas Kriner after studying class inequalities in the army.
A new study suggests that the effectiveness of celebrity product endorsements is explained by positive emotions associated with a celebrity then transfered to the product being sold.
“The priest, like every human being, needs to love and be loved,” say twelve Italian women who have written the Pope urging that priests be allowed to have intimate relationships.