Crowdfunding relies on building online communities around projects, but what can it do for physical, local communities? Neighborhoods are the original social networks, according to Henry Grabar in a recent […]
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Coal is essential for creating steel, cement, and agricultural fertilizer, i.e. the pillars of modern society.
Approximately 70 percent of Americans use prescription drugs which raises serious concern for the potential levels of pill addiction in this country. Leading health organizations, including the Center for Disease […]
Clean energy. GREEN energy. Energy that can solve global warming. Environmentalists are all for it. And as a direct result, no matter what the benefits, conservatives are absolutely against it. […]
“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
If the industrialized and industrializing nations of the world do not commit to reducing fossil fuel emissions in the coming years, Earth will cross a climate change threshold by 2036.
Do you remember where you were when you first heard of this thing called the Internet? Do you remember how this technology—email, search engines—gradually took over your life, or perhaps […]
Race may be genetic in that scientists, who have sequenced the genomes of thousands of people from around the world, can distinguish between races based on an individual’s genetic code.
Pioneer of facial recognition technology, Dr. Joseph J. Atick is now working against some of the technology’s strongest advocates to develop policies that will preserve individuals’ rights to remain anonymous.
No single factor can explain the aging process. Rather, lifespan is determined by complex interactions among diet, mitochondrial DNA, and nuclear DNA.
In the heart of our nearest big galaxy cluster, a massive spiral fights for its life. “Ali always said I would be nothing without him. But what would he have been […]
The popular phrase meant to guide your decisions through the weeds of life to the garden of self-fulfillment is more harmful than helpful.
We know several key things lie ahead for our planet: an aging population, climate change, a changing energy economy, immigration, and new personal technologies.
Into the Bestiary Business Should Chinese creatures be incorporated into Anglo-Saxon parlance, and if so, where to draw the line in number and color? This goes beyond linguistic pedantry and […]
Private space companies are gearing up for their most active year yet as they work to create a space tourism market and exploit resources beyond the planet.
There has been a lot of attention in recent years on flow—complete absorption in a task that it almost seems effortless. The modern pursuit of flow—how to achieve it, how […]
Andy Warhol’s exhibition, titled 13 Most Wanted Men, didn’t raise eyebrows when it was reviewed for submission to the 1964 New York World’s Fair…
Our unbridled enthusiasm for data-driven technology is dangerous, says cultural critic Evgeny Morozov, because it encourages us to adopt a particularly skewed understanding of the concept of freedom.
What happens when honey bees feed on M&Ms? “My therapist told me the way to achieve true inner peace is to finish what I start. So far today, I have finished […]
Because states are increasingly given to using untested chemicals to carry out executions, some legislatures have passed secrecy laws that shield the chemical providers from public scrutiny.
Recent studies indicate there is real linguistic and psychological significance to seemingly useless words such as “um”, “like”, and “you know,” according to the Journal of Language and Social Psychology.
This week the four major wireless carriers began allowing customers to take advantage of text-to-911 services available in two states and a handful of counties. It could prove most useful for those who are hard-of-hearing or have difficulty speaking.
Carnegie Mellon scientists have developed an interface that works through twists and tilts as well as clicks.
YOU wish they’d teach you this at school -they won’t necessarily. The United States, according to many foreign policy analysts, including critical voices such as famed Noam Chomsky (aka: “The […]
A new startup offers a solution to the problem of urban congestion: Collect data from transit programs, calculate estimated peak travel times, and offer rewards to commuters who avoid those periods.
A University of Washington study shows that despite the increase in the number of companies offering flexible schedules, managers still tend to give early birds higher conscientiousness and performance ratings.
In the 1983 film War Games the government has built a computer to simulate all the ways in which thermonuclear war might play out in order to find the best […]
Numerous studies have demonstrated the ways in which healthy social relationships can extend life. A new one suggests that domestic strife can shorten life…even when the only weapons are words.
“Deliberation is the function of many; action is the function of one.” – Charles de Gaulle