What is the Big Idea? Jim Yong Kim, a global health expert and the president of Dartmouth College was named as the next president of the World Bank, according to […]
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For this week’s post I would like to ask a single question: What is democracy? Please share your answers in the comments. I will feature what I think are the […]
An ill-timed African vacation (to shoot at elephants) has landed Spain’s royal family in hot water with the public. At what point do cultural traditions themselves become anachronistic?
The XTR3D is a touch-free software interface that only requires a simple 2-D camera to operate. XTR3D creates a three-dimensional image of the user which can then be used to […]
Soccket, a soccer ball that stores the energy generated while playing with it, was developed by Uncharted Play, Inc. The product of an engineering class for non-engineers at Harvard, Soccket […]
Le Chal, a shoe that may replace the cane for a visually impaired person, was developed by Anirudh Sharma. Le Chal, or “The Take-Me-There Shoe,” uses a phone’s GPS along […]
The Ekso is a bionic exoskeleton designed by Ekso Bionics in order to help wheelchair users walk. Essentially a wearable robot, the Ekso allows people who suffer from paralysis or […]
Fitocracy is a social fitness network that rewards its users with experience points, allowing them to level up and complete fitness “quests” with other users, creating a fun and challenging […]
If you’re a parent and you want to introduce your child to art, it’s sometimes hard to find that perfect combination of optimism and imagination in a single artist. Too […]
The news service for the College of Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin has a good summary of a recent article at The Scientist by several colleagues who spotlight […]
Since Germany decided to wean itself off nuclear energy, it must find new ways of achieving energy independence. That means connecting small energy suppliers to self-sufficient grids.
–Guest post by Erin Brett, American University graduate student. Last month, in advance of April Fools Day, CBS Morning News correspondent and satirist Mo Rocca met with the cast of […]
In France, it seems that respect for the institution of marriage carries with it a certain tolerance for extra-marital affairs. In divorce-happy America, should we accept cheating?
How important is gender to accessing different rights as a citizen? If gender categories are from a bygone area that restricted women’s rights, why shouldn’t we eliminate them all together?
A European institute in Singapore wants to help ease the world’s transition toward massively populated urban centers. Of the 8.1 billion people on Earth by 2030, 5 billion will live in cities.
Thomas K. Lindsay, quite an erudite and distinguished expert, applauds the decision of post-secondary public technical schools in Texas to evaluate institutions and faculty according to how many students have […]
Experiments performed at Northwestern University demonstrate that materialistic mindsets are more closely associated with depression, anxiety, distrust and a lack of civic duty.
In my early days of blogging, I would have exhaustive debates, sometimes lasting for weeks, with believers who came across one of my websites and posed a challenge to me. […]
At the Reason Rally in Washington, D.C. last month, my friend Greta Christina told me something that I, a lifelong New Yorker, never knew: Harry Houdini is buried in a […]
–Guest post by Nicole Federica, American University student. News reports tracking the obesity epidemic in the United States offer a range of possible explanations for the problem. These include government […]
California’s initiative process can be both a wonderfully democratic and perilously dumb way to make law. On no issue could that be more true than the proposed initiative to […]
–Guest post by Alyssa Martori, American University graduate student. People around the world working toward environmental preservation, conservation, and sustainability are often described as part of a global environmental movement. […]
Why have humans evolved into an intelligent species? The complexity of our social relationships, which require cooperation, naturally selects for higher cognitive processes.
When a complex organ like the brain experiences a malfunction, a complex problem can result. Here are some of the most bizarre delusions ever recorded by psychiatrists.
Mea culpa if, out of irritation, I joined Troll-land, the last place on earth I want to be, when I wrote on Samantha Brick’s now-infamous “don’t hate be because I’m […]
Today marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic in the North Atlantic, from which many of us get the notion that when a ship goes down, it’s […]
What is the Big Idea? Leaders from many western hemisphere countries gathered for the Summit of the Americas meeting this weekend to discuss alternatives to the failed “war on drugs.” President Obama […]
When patients in vegetative states register higher-order thinking on brain scans, our understanding of consciousness achieves an even subtler shade of gray.
New research confirms that worry is associated with high intelligence levels, suggesting that an aversion to dangerous situations has evolved as an important survival skill for our species.
Sedentary and over-night jobs present the most immediate health risks while working too many hours promotes unhealthy habits like drink and drugs. Finding a balance is essential.