The term “independent voter” suggests someone who is open-minded. We imagine that the independent voter goes into each election without preconceived ideas about which party to vote for, but instead […]
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Theories of globalization that herald a brave new world fail to account for our human nature which is opposed to long-distance interactions for reasons of geography and culture.
When researchers asked runners to repeat a specific phrase in their heads, like “push,” the runners performed substantially better than they had prior to the intervention.
Facebook’s recent acquisition of a small e-book design company has some wondering if the social media giant now holds the future of the publishing industry in its hands.
Between 1 and 2 PM (Hawaiian time) on August 3, the floor to the Pu`u O`o crater collapsed in spectacular fashion – and luckily for us, many Eruptions readers were […]
Information technology consultant Scott Bils says cloud computing and the ubiquity of mobile devices are reorienting the role of workplace technology officers toward business.
The military tends to talk in signs and numbers—and, perhaps most famously, in code. The use of abbreviations and alphabetical systems is efficient. In this week’s New Yorker, we learn […]
The rollout of technology allowing cell phones to be used as credit cards has been so slow that a superior technology is catching up. Biometrics promises a truly wallet-free future.
The Indian government promised the world a $35 laptop a year ago. In a few weeks it will deliver, said Kapil Sibal, minister for human resource development.
One there was ‘Watergate’; now every minor, irritating little faux scandal as the mocniker ‘gate’ attached to it. The latest being ‘Tipgate’, an August silly season story that has found […]
Last night on Twitter, some of us geology-types (including Brian Romans, Yorrike, Volcanojw, Ron Schott, Cian Dawson) had a discussion about “big picture” geology projects. We’re talking about the equivalent […]
Who says you can’t have a good conversation on Twitter? View “Iowa school flexibility” on Storify Image credit:toe touch
In the May-June 2011 issue of the international art magazine Flash Art, performance artist Marina Abramović began a regular column titled “Marina’s Diary,” in which she plans to document her […]
From Amanda, I learn that a couple decided–apparently of their own free will–to have a hobo-themed wedding. Lest you think this post comes from a place of knee-jerk anti-hobo animus, […]
Many expensive “ethics interventions” are doomed to failure because they are predicated on the faulty assumption that individuals always recognize an ethical dilemma when it is presented to them.
I wanted to point out a series of images posted by the NASA Earth Observatory that capture three volcanoes that are currently restless or outright erupting … right now! Well, […]
A strong majority of Americans say it is likely that oil prices will triple in the coming five years and that such a tripling would be harmful both to the […]
Once again I find inspiration from one of my former students for a post. Here’s his FACEBOOK request: “I’m interested to hear your thoughts on the ‘Palestinian Chicken’ episode of […]
In my Room 101, I am this beluga: Watch. HT: Loren Beyerstein.
Lots of pieces of volcano news I’ve missed reporting over the last week, so I thought I could try to round them all up. Alaska: A 40-meter lava dome/flow was […]
In the last fifty years, a remarkable sea change has taken place in the field of astronomy: Life, once considered unfathomably rare, is now thought likely to exist elsewhere.
The popularity of new Internet-connected electricity meters in people’s homes, which indicate when electricity is cheapest to consume, could create dangerous spikes in demand.
New technology for extracting oil from tarry sands could more than double the amount of oil that can be extracted from these abundant deposits while lowering greenhouse gas emissions.
Safety regulations have lagged in the relatively new industry of renewable energy. From solar panels to wind turbines, workers can be put in harms way if precautions aren’t taken.
N.A.S.A. is working with the private space exploration company, SpaceX, to plan a mission to Mars that would cost ‘millions, not billions’. The mission would search for signs of life.
Chronic disease plagues personal lives and public policy. Sheer numbers only begin to give a glimpse of the associated suffering, cost and scope of the problem. In the United States […]
Stewart Brand’s famous maxim, “Information Wants to be Free,” has been, for more than 25 years, one of the most popular rallying cries of the Digital Age. These words have […]
A love story for the 21st century (cue the violins). Several years ago a very close family friend in Vancouver was searching our family name on the Internet and had […]
A recently published collection of essays by economists — Consequences of Economic Downturn: Beyond the Usual Economics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011) — tackles that question. The book’s editor is Martha Starr, […]
By passing a deal to raise the debt ceiling, Congress averted a crisis that is entirely of the own making. If Congress had failed to reach an agreement, it would have […]