“The main thing that attracts me to Buddhism is probably what attracts every artist to being an artist—that it’s a godlike thing,” performance artist and musician Laurie Anderson says in […]
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Why do we not give P.E. credit for participating in football? Or any of the other various sports requiring physical activity? The kids are far more active in football than […]
Bruce Beuno de Mesquita’s Selectorate Theory explains how bad behavior is good politics. Unfortunately, well-intentioned foreign aid could be enabling bad policies and bad politicians to remain in power.
Under an agreement negotiated today, all 27 European Union countries will sign no new oil contracts with Iran and stop importing all Iranian oil by July 1. How will Iran respond?
What’s the Big Idea? As the Assistant Secretary of Education in the first Bush administration, Educational historian Diane Ravitch became known for her push to establish national standards for K-12 […]
In all of the hyperbole surrounding Newt Gingrich’s storming victory over Mitt Romney in South Carolina, little or no attention has so far been given to the slippery amphibian that […]
Islamic parties have won large majorities in the governments of Tunisia and Egypt although the revolutions of the Arab Spring were considered largely secular. How will the US react?
The United States, frequently backed by Britain, has consistently waged war against democracy at home and abroad. That war, practically never spoken of, continues today.
Deficit reduction in a depressed economy is the road not to recovery, but to contraction, says British political economist Robert Skidelsky. He argues that current efforts to repay debt are misguided.
In line with my post a fortnight ago, I recently took a second look at another inspiring book. This time I reread Hugh MacLeod’s Ignore Everybody: And 39 Other Keys […]
New research shows that children understand the difference between a positive and negative outlook at an early age. Parents and teachers should model a sunny disposition.
Nothing keeps the mind healthy like an education, say psychologists. And contrary to past belief, recent research shows that new neural connections can be built well into middle age.
The title of the Wall Street Journal‘s recent article on enhanced e-books—”Blowing Up the Book”—strikes me as an appropriate blend of the exciting and the ominous. (See also: “Kindle Fire.”) The format is a […]
Or at least that’s what men seem to think. An economic survey shows how rates of personal debt increase in areas where men outnumber women, making the competition for a mate more fierce.
Some recently unearthed data sets allowed scientists to examine how genetics affect cognitive decline as part of the aging process. Genes are influential but not determinative.
Despite the fact that people with diverse social networks score higher on creativity metrics, we mostly prefer homogeneity, sticking close to people like us when we attend social events.
So, as I predicted, Romney is now 1-2. And he’s gone from overwhelming favorite to a probable underdog. Mitt is collapsing across the nation. It’s easy to predict that Gingrich will […]
I originally got this idea from Feministe, and I used to do it every couple of months on the old site. I think it’s about time for another. This is […]
This essay was previously published on AlterNet. Last November, I attended a debate in the NYU Intelligence Squared series on the topic, “Would the World Be Better Off Without Religion?” […]
Via Dangerous Intersection, I saw this TED lecture by Daniel Kahnemann, based on his book Thinking Fast and Slow, about the conflict between the “experiencing self” and the “remembering self”. […]
Americans (and most everyone else in the world) are getting bigger. Yes, obesity is BIG news. Many of us have grown so large that the New York Times reports that […]
Mitt Romney has experience that Barack Obama doesn’t. For all his obvious gifts, Obama has no real experience running private companies, while Romney is one of the most accomplished business […]
Exercise is practically essential to good health but scientists have not understood why until recently. Physical exertion, it seems, helps recycle worn-out proteins that poison the body.
Under the first major modification in 17 years to the manual that defines mental disorders, definitions of autism, Asperger syndrome and developmental disorder will be brought together.
A new mobile app that securely sends video and audio to cardiologists has helped diagnosis patients before they get to the hospital, meaning they receive better care when they arrive.
People in a romantic relationship are generally healthier than those who are not. But when it comes to marriage, just living with your loved one, without the certificate, may prove healthier.
A 60-day moratorium has halted international research that produced a more communicable strain of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus, the full findings of which will be reported only to scientists and health officials.
In today’s excerpt – the gold standard. In recent political debates, there have been calls for a return to the gold standard. This standard states that holders of paper money […]
Can the comedian’s critique of campaign finance make a difference or is it too easily dismissed as comedy? Today, Colbert urged South Carolina to vote for Herman Cain, who is no longer running.
From insurance broker to farmer to head of one of the country’s largest security firms, this female entrepreneur learned a great deal while mastering the male-dominated security business.