The idea of getting eight hours sleep at night is a modern invention, one that is ironically no longer sustainable because of technological advances. But a better schedule is possible…
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This is part 4 of my review of Steven Pinker’s “The Better Angels of Our Nature”. Read Part 1 here, part 2 here and part 3 here. In my last […]
Over the last few years, researchers have scanned brains while they are at rest. They have found that the brain continues to function at a very high rate even when not occupied with tasks.
I want to put an end to this argument, since I’m seeing it frequently touted and pointed to and nodded at like a mantra. Phrase it however you want: “it’s […]
So, a few of you have asked, why have you stopped talking about movies? It’s not that I’ve stopped seeing them. The truth is that movies have gotten so much […]
So Romney is taking a big and deserved hit for his stupid and arrogant remark that 47% of Americans won’t vote for him because they don’t pay income taxes and, […]
Researchers have successfully modified nanoparticles to make them more effective at delivering medication directly to specific organelles within the body’s cells, opening new treatment options.
Public health experts generally agree that policies which encourage positive lifestyle changes will improve the economy by increasing worker productivity and reducing health care costs.
Monsanto’s Roundup-resistant corn causes tumors and liver problems in rats, says a team of French researchers. Proponents of California’s ballot initiative to label GMOs have seized on the results.
Today, I had the dubious pleasure of discovering that one of the research associates working at the MIT AgeLab has 1392 unread messages in his primary email inbox. 1392! As in, […]
Government authorities now claim that certain foods contain the same addictive properties as certain drugs. Recent advances in neuroscience seem to support their conclusions.
Facial symmetry, long known to help form our concept of beauty, is also a good indicator of general health, say American and Scottish scientists who have completed a study on macaques.
I’ll be posting another actual ATNT post tomorrow. For now, I just want to indicate other posts I’ve written recently. 1. MAKING MONSTERS [link] At my friend Martin Pribble’s blog, […]
Arguments on both sides of this question were aired at a thought-provoking colloquium sponsored by the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College on September 21-22: “Does the President Matter? A […]
Data gathered for a new study suggests that some parents’ beliefs on children and alcohol exposure are dangerously misguided.
A new study shows that, contrary to expectations, people are much better at intuiting others’ emotional states when there’s no financial incentive involved.
A cafe in London is doing its part to make its customers more aware of their true water usage by allowing scientists to label each menu item with its “water footprint” value.
Cognitive science exists in a golden era. The amount of resources pouring into research that examines human nature is unmatched by any other time in history.
Small and nimble research labs are proving that they have a method for speeding the pace and reducing the cost of discovery.
Researchers at the University of California-Davis are embarking on a study designed to determine whether the type of bottle closure really makes a difference in wine quality.
A new study says that sure, the carrot-on-a-stick method works to get citizens involved in their communities, but it doesn’t always sustain that involvement over time, requiring the use of other techniques.
Dear Paris Hilton You probably don’t remember me. We met briefly once, years ago. It was when you bought a book on numerology and astrology from a store I worked […]
The second generation of MakerBot’s desktop 3D printers is a sturdier, faster, easier-to-use version with a price that starts at just under $2,200.
Can an idea that looks backward also look forward? That question hangs over the the Tate Britain’s new exhibition Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant-Garde at the same moment that it celebrates the […]
Borrowing from nature, an engineering company has created a robot that mimics the nimble maneuvers and speed of real tuna.
Back in July, I wrote about how the Secular Student Alliance’s website had been targeted by denial-of-service attacks. In that post, I called on Christians and other theists to donate […]
PSY’s viral hit Gangnam Style is testing two longstanding trends: mainstream American culture as a monolingual culture and the global dominance of the English language.
It’s no secret that future disruptive demographic changes will have profound implications for the relationship between employers and employees. But what’s less well known is that some of those demographic […]
In our last post, Meet The New “Power Woman,” we discussed the emergence of the Power Woman as a positive archetype in popular culture and we also pointed to the changing roles […]