In the climactic final act of Verdi’s opera La traviata, the heroine Violetta is on her deathbed, stricken with tuberculosis. Suddenly her estranged lover Alfredo returns to her side and […]
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The current state of the newspaper industry is unsettled at best: more than two hundred newspapers have either folded or stopped publishing their print editions since 2007. Even the most […]
UN aid programs that encourage the development of local communities and their economies help create self-sustaining families, cities and countries. In 10 years, Ghana could be off aid.
The overarching metanarrative that always comes to mind when I think about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is not race but justice. I am a little ambivalent about the Martin […]
In today’s excerpt – thanks to the work of Daniel Kahneman and others, we now increasingly view our cognitive processes as being divided into two systems. System 1 produces the […]
Guest post by Samantha Eliza Benten The Law of Non-Contradiction, as stated by Aristotle: “One cannot say of something that it is and that it is not in the same […]
Five years ago this June, Cormac McCarthy appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Given McCarthy’s legendary reticence (he had done only one major interview in the past, with the New […]
(The following piece was written Sunday evening. There is news since then about what might have led to the sinking, news that chillingly bears out the thoughts offered in the […]
Infamous for its refusal to enforce patent laws, China’s ever-resourceful knock-off artists have uncorked a lucrative new business: bottling phony high-end wines in old French bottles.
Democratic institutions seem too slow to respond to long-term crises and too quick to react to market pressures, substituting the stock ticker for the ballot box. Is there any alternative?
Writing from Paris, Nicholas Kristof wonders why some of the GOP candidates are decrying Europe. There are serious financial problems, to be sure, but the society is healthier than America’s.
Collaboration is the new buzzword. Open offices and brainstorming sessions purport to outperform the antiquated lone wolf. Yet solitude remains essential to creativity, say researchers.
Who a person is relates to how they move their eyes, says cognitive scientist Dr. Aaron Risko. New eye-tracking technology is giving researchers more insight into how someone thinks.
Many studies have shown how fallible our memories are, from the errors of eyewitness accounts to the gullibility of childhood memories, but does that mean who we think we are is a lie?
Here’s a fine think-piece by Susan Cain that praises some introversion as indispensable for creativity. To some great extent, Socrates and Jesus were solitary men. And the wisdom they shared with us couldn’t […]
If you are already toe to toe with your New Year’s resolution, gritting your teeth is not the best way to overcome the temptation to cheat. Understanding your willpower’s limitations is essential.
Web addicts have brain changes similar to those hooked on drugs or alcohol, preliminary research suggests. A new study carried out in China examined the brains of Internet addicts.
Twenty years from now, could veterans of Afghanistan be trading war stories over friendly dinners with ex-Taliban fighters? It sound inconceivable, but then, it always is—when the war is still […]
It’s simply not possible. Or is it? Let’s say you’re a middle school principal. How can you engage a large group of consultants, each having anywhere between six to eight […]
The Consumer Electronics Show is over and Mat Honan, senior reporter for Gizmodo.com, is depressed. He wrote a lyrical piece about the melancholia created by a three-day Bacchanalia of […]
A study that looked at biomarkers in the blood to correlate vitamins and brain function found very clear links between nutrition and brain health, says Alice Walton at the Atlantic.
Entrepreneurs in the biotech industry say innovation is budding, just like the personal computer 30 years ago. They’ve set up shop in Silicon Valley so can history repeat itself?
• Here’s the top story for this week: After Jessica Ahlquist’s court victory over illegal state-sponsored prayer in her high school, she’s been receiving a torrent of vicious hate mail […]
After advancements in treating colon and breast cancers using personalized medical regiments based on an individual’s genetic code, researchers are looking to tackle diabetes.
The most sensitive listening device ever has been created from a gold sphere just 60 nanometers in diameter, which may allow scientists to hear the body’s cells for the first time.
A newly discovered hormone, produced by the body during exercise, is enabling scientists to better understand how exercise works at the cellular level to prevent diseases like obesity and diabetes.
Donating money to worthy causes is important, but how can we make sure we are giving to the right organizations?
High tech gadgets developed for the developing world.
Long before she ever met John Lennon, Yoko Ono established herself as a significant international avant-garde artist. With John by her side, Yoko’s political performance art found a larger audience […]
The brain is hardwired for storytelling. What stories give us, in the end, is reassurance. And as childish as it may seem, that sense of security – that coherent sense of self – is essential to our survival.