Despite the attention we give the Internet for making us socially isolated, it may be that automobile traffic is more to blame for isolating people from their neighborhoods.
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Conventional farming practices favor corporate agriculture and are widely considered environmentally unsustainable, but can organic farming feed a world with nine billion people?
“Nobody is representing anything,” Lucian Freud once said of all art, including his own. “Everything is autobiographical and everything is a portrait, even if it’s a chair.” Elsewhere, the grandson […]
These days, one of the blogs where I spend the most time commenting is Leah Libresco’s Unequally Yoked on Patheos. This isn’t just because its author has a unique and […]
In September 2011, Pew released the latest in its annual “Views of the News Media” survey, showing that Democrats have moved closer to Republicans in their dissatisfaction with the performance […]
Thomas Mann of the Brookings Institute and Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute have a must-read essay in today’s Washington Post titled “Let’s Just Say It: The Republicans Are […]
Rather than trying to cope with or counteract the cognitive decline that comes naturally with age, neuroscientists say that continuing to live an active and engaged life is the best strategy.
New psychological research shows that when people are prompted to think analytically, they downplay their belief in supernatural beings like God and angels. Are you a believer?
Always be looking for solutions, but don’t try too hard, says Jonah Lehrer. When we leave the mind to its own devices and forget about strict concentration, we are more likely to create.
While anti-depressants work to regulate serotonin in the brain, the chemical is found more plentifully in other parts of the body where it helps with processes like digestion and development.
So the excellent expert on public opinion Frank Luntz gives us five myths about conservatives. It goes without saying there are many kinds of conservatives, and all Luntz can really talk […]
By measuring how women’s brains respond to images of food and sex, researchers may be able to predict whether the women are set for weight gain or sexual activity in the months ahead.
I’ve spent the last two weeks getting licensed to work in a new field. Mitt Romney has spent the last two weeks since Rick Santorum dropped out of the race […]
Torture doesn’t work. There has never been much reason to believe that it does. Now Reuters reports that a three-year investigation by Democrats on the Senate Intelligence committee confirms what […]
A new smartphone accessory which creates a digital image of medical test results is helping to build a new global database of disease information that will help prevent future epidemics.
The adage that children raised in rough households grow up fast has some fresh genetic evidence to support it, say Duke researchers who examined age markers in children’s DNA.
Researchers at Northwestern University have decoded the brain’s electrical signals to bypass injured spinal cords and reanimate limbs that no longer receive stimulation from the brain.
What matters in life? Will Wilkinson wrote wrote a nice Big Think post on Friday quoting some recent psychological research and suggesting the answer is “memorable social experience”: A number […]
A Polish-born gynecologist claims he has found the biological source of the female orgasm. Known as the G-spot, the anatomical mystery has legendary powers of sexual stimulation.
People who are more optimistic, hopeful and satisfied with their lives are less likely to have heart problems, says a new Harvard meta-analysis that has aggregated over 200 independent studies.
If I were to send you back in time to 1500, a time when people were just learning how to cope with the recent disruptive invention of the moveable type […]
This Saturday, April 28, is the date for a collective movement of nationwide marches and rallies, organized by UniteWomen.org and backed by a national coalition of non-profit organizations, the Center […]
In 2003, a man broke into Vonette W.’s house in the middle of the night, wearing a scarf to cover his face. He held a gun to her head and […]
Eastern Europe shares common positive characteristics that not only distinguish it from Western Europe, but also from most of the world. During the twentieth century, few regions on the planet […]
The top 25 ‘rapid-growth markets,’ or RGMs, will continue to contribute nearly half of the world’s growth over the next three years.
New psychological research shows that humility is strongly associated with a host of positive virtues, including maintaining friendships, having good work habits and being generous.
What is the Big Idea? China’s growth is slowing. Its economy expanded at 8.1 percent during the first quarter, which is significantly slower than the previous quarters and a disappointment […]
Here are some ways to make your idea into a full blown movement. Get the public involved early and often, and make advertising campaigns directed at civic organizations.
Scientists believe that words which are less familiar to us exert less of an emotive pull, allowing our minds to evaluate a decision on more rational terms. Pues hablas español?
What’s the Big Idea? “Contemporary research on consciousness in neuroscience rests on unquestioned but highly questionable foundations. Human nature is no less mysterious now than it was a hundred years […]