The idea of a ‘space elevator’ has been around since the late 1800s. Until now, there wasn’t a material strong enough to build it. Then carbon nanotubes stepped in.
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A new law overhauls the way the federal government supports private-sector R&D, and one of the main ways the government hopes to support R&D is with prizes. Lots of prizes.
Couples who avoid sex before marriage end up having happier, more stable relationships and a better time in bed, according to psychologists. Should sex wait until one’s wedding night?
Do you have to be religious to see a face in burnt toast? Probably not, but believers are more likely to attribute such a face to Jesus (1). Believer in […]
Technology goliath IBM just released its top five predictions for the next five years. We agree with all of their sensible forecasts — with some additional thoughts. 1. Yes, You Too Can Be […]
Let me recommend to you this fine review of this season’s best movie. Once again, I think the Coen brothers more than flirt with nihilism. The murderous violence of the film […]
Designer Kaylene Kau has produced a highly functional, sleek prosthetic arm inspired by the tentacle of an octopus.
So he will write a book, even if he does not want to write a book. “I don’t want to write this book, but I have to,” Assange said, and […]
Did Albert Einstein believe in God? Comfortable using the term, he famously said, “God does not play dice,” to express his misgivings about the randomness of quantum mechanics.
Extending unemployment benefits and the Bush tax cuts are a good first step to rewriting America’s tax code, says Nobel Laureate Gary Becker, who favors a flat consumption tax.
Why have new jobs been so hard to come by? One view blames cyclical economic factors but another says there is a mismatch between the skills people have and the jobs available.
Suicide bombers have much to teach. The most remarkable fact is that suicide bombing is a relatively recent historic development, unknown in Islamic societies until the 1980s.
How to keep hope alive? Without a constructive answer to toxic anger and immobilizing guilt, we seem doomed to despair about chances for renewal. One answer is forgiveness.
There is a great deal to be learned from reading the work of Sunstein. He is a brilliant, intellectually honest legal thinker who understands the history of our 20th-century movement.
Why is it that people who argue against the government’s role in the economy don’t likewise advocate for the flip side: that corporations should not be allowed to influence government?
The amygdala is a brain structure crucial for regulating emotions. But the size of the amygdala also reveals just how rich and varied a social life a person leads.
Has post-industrial capitalism completely destroyed the conditions required for healthy childhood development? Dr. Gabor Maté says today’s parents are too stressed out.
Evidence is growing that your DNA sequence does not determine your entire genetic fate. Geneticist Joseph Nadeau is trying to find out what accounts for the rest.
I got an email from on Christmas Day from Emily Troutman describing Christmas in Haiti. In a hidden alleyway, a half-dozen children gather around. They live in Village de Dieu, […]
The presidential adviser penned Kennedy’s famous inaugural line: “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.”
Zinn told Big Think he wanted to be remembered for “introducing a different way of thinking about the world,” and as “somebody who gave people a feeling of hope and power that they didn’t have before.”
Happy holidays! Every year as I range across the web in search of news and ideas I come across a few articles that stand out as exceptionally worth reading. Today […]
1. So this was the first significantly white Christmas in Georgia during my 31 years here. If I were a libertarian “conservative,” I would add: some global warming! But we postmodern conservatives […]
There is increasing concern about pollution levels in the world’s most ubiquitous and essential substance – air – and a new pilot project from Intel is aiming to address it […]
Was Hopper an ugly American, so wedded to simplistic imagery that the finer points of Cubism or abstract painting went over his head? Did he rely on cliché because that was all he understood?
An effective response to the obesity epidemic will come only when pundits and policymakers unite around scientifically-robust policies that address its causes and consequences.
Private companies Virgin Galactic and SpaceX are likely to dominate headlines in the coming year, and may make 2011 the most exciting yet for private space flight.
In the collision between the institution of prison and the institution-within-the-institution, the library, something constructive and potentially long-lasting is formed.
If it is repealed, some people will cheer, some will be angry, and most will pay little attention. In the United States, the death penalty may never die, but its best days are past.
If we lose the railways we shall not just have lost a valuable practical asset. We shall have acknowledged that we have forgotten how to live collectively, said the late Tony Judt.