What is the Big Idea? Foxconn’s employees in China may be getting a raise, but it’s only a matter of time before higher wages prompts the manufacturer to move its […]
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What is the Big Idea? Russia’s lame duck president Dmitry Medvedev is working hard during the last two months of his presidential term. He met with a team of experts last […]
What’s the Big Idea? The idea of “brain training” conjures up visions of children playing educational computer games and senior citizens solving Sudoku puzzles, but a great workout for the […]
The Daily Mail published an article this week by Samantha Brick, called, “There are Downsides to Looking This Pretty: Why Women Hate Me for Being Beautiful.” Problem is, according to […]
It’s a wonderful oddity—I hesitate to say “coincidence”—that the best erotic poem in literary history should appear smack dab in the middle of the Bible. The Song of Songs (known […]
What’s the Big Idea? As a celebration of the resurrection of Christ from the dead, Easter is the most important day of the Christian liturgical year. This spring, megachurches are […]
What is the Big Idea? After years of political and economic deadlock, Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) is coming out of stagnation at a dizzying speed. Since he took office […]
Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson claims the title “scientist” above all other “ists.” And yet, he says he is “constantly claimed by atheists.” So where does he stand? “Neil deGrasse, widely claimed by atheists, is actually an agnostic.”
It’s early days still for the neuroscience of meditation, but Kadam Morten, a teacher in the New Kadampa tradition of Buddhism, argues that the Buddha (Gautama Buddha, who lived in India approximately 2500 years ago) was the creator of a “science of the mind.”
By revolutionizing how we interact with the Internet, Google’s augmented reality glasses will revolutionize the technology industry. Apple and Facebook should be afraid, very afraid.
Are shared human values possible and sustainable without religion? This is the subject of life philosopher Alain de Botton’s new book, Religion for Atheists.
MIT engineers have programmed small magnetic cubes to assume the shape of an object they come into contact with. The technology could be scaled down to sand-sized particles.
Just when you think you’ve gotten away from the so-called “grandmother cell,” it comes around again. It’s the proverbial Whack-A-Mole in the neuroscience world. No matter how many times the […]
While embracing controversy in any form is a challenging first step, Gloria Feldt – former CEO of Planned Parenthood – argues that women need to go further. She says women need to set the agenda – becoming political thermostats rather than thermometers.
Quick. Grab a pencil. Some crayons. A notepad. Wrap your brain around this Friday’s Big Enigma from Ivan Moscovitch’s The Big Book of Brain Games. Share a photo of your solution in […]
The next stage of 3D printing will be home-manufactured robots, say three of America’s ivy-league institutions, who have received a $10 million grant from the National Science Foundation.
A Dutch company is working to add floating infrastructure to expanding cities that face a coastline. Roads, parking ramps, and beaches could be rotated around tomorrow’s cities.
European and American companies have successfully tested new prototypes of flying cars. So how soon will you be able to lift yourself out traffic jams and fly home? That may depend on regulation.
When it comes to being the world’s most digitally innovative nation, the U.S. now trails Romania, which has become the first nation to accept the “Every European Digital” challenge from […]
Recently, the Catholic writer and apologist Mark Shea fielded a question from a reader who was disturbed by pro-slavery Bible verses quoted on an atheist billboard in Pennsylvania. Here’s the […]
If this video doesn’t creep you out, you might be a replicant. Researchers at Japan’s Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International have developed a robot called Geminoid|DK, which not only looks like a human, […]
Politics makes us stupid. This is one of my recurring themes. This is the principal reason I refuse to be a partisan or ideological team player. People call me libertarian […]
What is the Big Idea? An intern in a hospital in Harbin city was stabbed to death by an angry patient last week. Three other doctors were seriously injured in […]
Google’s “augmented reality” glasses are upon us, complete with stylish company codename (“Project Glass”) and Orwellian rhetorical judo: “People I have spoken with [i.e., Google employees] who have have seen Project […]
Just ninety years ago, we thought our galaxy was the extent of the Universe. Now we know hundreds of millions of galaxies exist in an ever-expanding Universe. Where does that leave us?
The buzz surrounding physicist Stephen Hawking‘s newest experiments with communication technology has been a bit overexuberant, along the lines of “new technology could help Stephen Hawking communicate via brain waves!” […]
If there’s a villain in Rosalind E. Krauss’ newest book, Under Blue Cup, it’s Marcel Duchamp. Art fell in the toilet with the dawn of Duchamp’s Fountain.
On March 10, 2009, President Obama announced that environmentalist and civil rights activist Van Jones would serve as a Special Advisor to the White House, overseeing the administration’s ambitious and […]
On Tuesday, April 4th, 2012, we had the pleasure of interviewing Richard Tafel, human rights activist and founder of the policy advocacy organizations The Log Cabin Republicans and The Public […]
David LaChapelle changed the course of his career from commercial photography to fine art because “I want pictures that shine a light on this time we live in” rather than just add to “the distraction and the noise,” he says.