One in three Americans are diagnosed at some point in their lifetime with cancer, a derangement of normal cell growth in which cells grow in antisocial ways, crossing natural tissue boundaries.
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So I’ve said before evolution is getting more personal. I’m now going to say a few things about the personal point of view of our time. I’m just trying to […]
Want to get a some more volcano news from aspiring bloggers in my First Year class? Check out their first posts on the blog for the class – we’ll be […]
Last week in NYC, we attended the Economist’s summit on “Intelligent Infrastructure,” which covered investment issues, new technologies, scenarios for urban growth, and sociological questions about the future role of the city.
This week the World Trade Organization meets to revive the Doha Development Round of talks. Economist Daniel Altman explains why little will be gained—and why that isn’t such bad news.
Magma wells could prove to be a very powerful new source of energy—up to five times more productive than standard geothermal wells.
The 2012 presidential election is going to be the most expensive ever, thanks to the Citizens United court ruling.
We’re fascinated by machines that can imitate humans, but also feel an existential discomfort around them. Today, the primal distinction between man and technology is blurrier than ever.
Ink-jet printing technology has inspired scientists to look for ways to build sheets of skin that could one day be used for grafts in burn victims, experts said Sunday.
It may be boring for parents—but reading the same book over and over again to children is the best way to develop their vocabulary, say researchers at Sussex University.
How much more crowded is our planet going to get? Will we keep on expanding indefinitely, or are we approaching the upper limit? Can the planet sustain ten billion people?
U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron wants private companies, voluntary groups and charities to be given the right to run schools, hospitals and vast swathes of public services.
Loss-making Twitter has been valued at $10 billion. Facebook is said to be worth more than Ford. Now, for some investors, the alarm bells are starting to ring.
Unfortunately, there is no feasible way, certainly not in the United States, to go from the present world to a world without guns, says Nobel Laureate Gary Becker.
Today, most men in their 20s hang out in a novel sort of limbo, a hybrid state of semi-hormonal adolescence and responsible self-reliance: It doesn’t bring out the best in men.
The emphasis on quantifying what students learn has substantially reduced or eliminated opportunities that children have for exploring, interacting, and learning on their own.
Born at the end of the so-called “long Enlightenment,” Lincoln had no reservations about being guided by “Reason” or preferring it to passion. Providence, however, also played its role.
“Satire works by inference,” cartoonist G.B. Trudeau says in Brian Walker’s new book Doonesbury and the Art of G.B. Trudeau. “What you condemn should reveal what you value, what you […]
After a few months of intermittent explosions since late 2010, Bulusan in the Philippines looks to be at it again (although not really a “major volcanic eruption” as the Huffington Post […]
A new study of Sweden’s sex trade laws sheds new light on the age-old debate about criminalizing prostitution.
On Sunday morning President Ali Abdullah Salih gave a speech in front of roughly 30,000 supporters in Sanaa. Foreign journalists were invited to document the event and see the widespread […]
Protestors and opposition leaders in Bahrain are calling on the Sunni king to dissolve the government. Will these protests successfully usher in a revolution or be stifled like in Iran?
What did countries such as Britain and Italy think they were doing when they began to cultivate their relationships with Libyan dictator Muammar al-Gadaffi a few years back?
I said in my previous post that I had a second big move to announce. Well, it’s now official. Starting in August I will be a faculty member at the […]
So the BIG THINKers have reminded us that one of the most personal and technologically promising ideas of our time is DESIGNING BABIES–or making the result of our reproduction better than natural. I’ve […]
M.I.T. physicist Alan Guth has suggested that new universes—known as “pocket universes”— are constantly being created, but they cannot be seen from our universe.
It was heartening to see that there are tens of thousands of people protesting in Madison day after day. That’s the beginning, maybe, of what we really need here: a democracy uprising.
Deep in the lush undergrowth of corporate America, security, consulting and PR companies see lucrative business opportunities in helping WikiLeaks targets get their retaliation in first.
Bernie Madoff languishes in jail; bankers continue to profit as the poor lose their homes. Stealing from the rich is punished more than stealing from the poor, says Danny Schechter.
In a different age, politicians quoting Shakespeare might not have gotten far with voters; in Bard-mad 19th-century America, it was a sure way to win over a skeptical audience.