Mathematicians taken up with finding the square roots of algebraic equations have had the niggling problem that such solutions involve illogical square roots of negative numbers.
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Schools across America are switching to a four-day week, hoping to stave off the effects of budget cuts – but fuelling fears of hurting kids’ education.
Pakistani security agents have denied that an American al Qaeda promulgator with a $1 million US bounty on his head has been arrested, saying there has been an ID mix-up.
A genetic propensity may be responsible for some alcohol dependence, according to new research which links alcoholism to a cluster of genes on chromosome 11.
Blogger Jeff Jarvis wades into the television fight by suggesting that Cablevision customers switch to the “better service” Verizon Fios—but that doesn’t mean he’s siding with ABC!
Cyberwar has been declared as urgent memos are circulated by Nato and the EU calling for the protection of secret material, in response to a boom in online attacks from China.
Iran has found its own bastion for liberation, comparable to South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, in the form of the defeated opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, writes The New Republic.
A collection of house plants have been installed in a fifth-floor space at the AC Institute in Chelsea, with a video screen above their head as part of the television-for-plants-project.
Robert Fisk remarks upon the “democracy” being won out in Iraq and questions whether the country’s next sectarian government can really overcome the Sunnis-Shias antagonism.
It was a red letter day for women in the film industry yesterday as Kathryn Bigelow became the surprise first woman to win Best Director at the Oscars for “The Hurt Locker.”
A participant at a Republican National Committee fundraising retreat committed an inexcusable faux pas earlier this week when he forgot to pack a document from the meeting before checking out […]
During the summers of 1970s, the English countryside would in parts turn to autumn. Across the fields from my school, mighty trees yellowed and browned and the leaves would fall […]
While most of the world waits to hear who will take home which Oscars, some of us might be as content to watch playwright Martin McDonagh ascend a separate stage, […]
Anoushesh Ansari is the world’s first female private space explorer, as well as the first astronaut of Iranian descent. Today, in a Big Think interview (conducted in partnership with the […]
Facebook sends more users to broadcast news sites, while Google News sends more to newspaper sites. 10,000 Words argues that news media shouldn’t wait to develop iPad apps, because the […]
Lord Michael Ashcroft is a Conservative Peer who does not pay any income tax on his foreign earnings. He is more usually described as a “Belize-based businessman”; Belize may not […]
More and more members have been leaving The Church of Scientology lately, claiming the organization hides the abuse it perpetrates against many of its non-celebrity members.
With most earthquake victims now treated, foreign doctors are attending Haitians’ normal health problems leaving questions about what will happen to the country’s health infrastructure after their departure.
Voting places have opened the second parliamentary election in Iraq since the invasion amidst usual levels of violence, large security forces and many international monitors.
Women’s groups are making their voices heard this weekend as Monday marks the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day. How far has the movement come to achieving its goals?
After expanding the best picture category to ten films, the Academy is using an instant run-off voting system where members rank their favorite films; politicians, take note.
While health care reform is subject to frequent cost criticisms, America’s outdated trident nuclear program is far more expensive but receives no public attention, writes the Huffington Post.
Scientists have found that microbes living in the human gut may have more influence over our health than our own genes, perhaps causing psychological and physical changes like obesity.
The SEC is charging a psychic with fraud after he received and diverted over $6 million from those who believed he could accurately predict market forces and natural disasters.
Though stopping short of promising funding, French President Sarkozy said Europe must support an ailing Greece if the credibility of the Euro as a moral currency is to be maintained.
While Obama’s agenda remains forever stalled, his chief of staff may be on the receiving end of some unfortunate political realities, leaving his job in question following the midterm elections.
Icelanders have rejected a referendum asking them to repay the $5.3 billion given to them by the Netherlands and U.K. to save the country from defaulting in the wake of the financial collapse.
February’s employment numbers were better than expected. Economists had worried that the massive snowstorm that hit the eastern seaboard would depress employment more. As it was the economy still lost […]
John Edgar Wideman has always been one of my literary heroes, from the top of his prematurely bald head, a smooth brown dome towering six feet five inches into the […]
When does removing online content or editing it after the fact cross the line into censorship? In an intelligent article posted to Alternet earlier this week, Melinda Burns investigates the […]