Bob Duggan, BIG THINK’s artistic blogger, worries that nobody is thinking about the sesquicentennial of the Civil War. I agree that there’s not enough political reflection about that war. Political […]
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Pieces of volcano news on this snowy Ohio Monday morning (and now that the Superbowl is done, only one week until the real sports begin again): Japan: Eruptions reader and […]
Germans have a reputation for punctuality. Is that why they have so many ways of telling the same time? If it’s 10:15 in the germanosphere (1), you’ll have at least […]
Global economic forces are creating ever-greater disparities of wealth within societies. It is the great policy challenge of our time, says Harvard economics professor Kenneth Rogoff.
The U.S. now incarcerates more people than any other country, largely as a result of soaring drug convictions, with a disproportionate number of African-American and Hispanic prisoners.
People in romantic relationships are often tempted to block their partners from seeing attractive alternatives, but a new study suggests that this strategy may backfire.
New fish farms out at sea, and cleaner operations along the shore, could provide the world with a rich supply of much needed protein while using more sustainable methods.
Foreign investors see Africa as a breadbasket. Done well, investment could not only help with African hunger but create food security for the rest of the world.
Opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei says he has no doubt that the transition in Egypt will be accompanied by a transition in the entire Middle East, from Tunisia to Yemen.
The best predictor of a country’s future economic health is not the magnitude but the diversity of its production capacity, says M.I.T. economist César Hidalgo.
The Kentucky senator’s proposal would first roll back almost all federal spending to 2008 levels, then initiate reductions at various levels nearly across the board.
Over the last 30,000 years, the human brain has decreased about 10% in size. But our brains are not just getting smaller—they are also getting more efficient.
Over a long period of time, democratic and quasi-democratic nations change profoundly, but the change is gradual. Dictatorial regimes change in fits and starts, says Judge Richard Posner.
Will anyone run against Barack Obama? With the 2012 election still almost two years away, it’s obviously still early. But at this point in the previous election cycle—with Bush a […]
The link between Super Bowls and heart failure is usually written in guacamole and beer. But we are a social species, whose feelings about group identity have a direct impact […]
To beat procrastination, you need to increase your motivation to do each task on which you are tempted to procrastinate. Don’t try to eliminate procrastination—find a balance.
For 15 million years, a vast icebound lake has been sealed deep beneath Antarctica’s frozen crust, possibly hiding prehistoric or other unknown life. Now, the lake is about to be unsealed.
For some, a list of 1001 books you “must” read is no mere suggestion. Jeremy Dauber explains his addiction to lists and why he thinks they are a cultural boon.
Two new books argue that the good book isn’t the squeaky-clean endorsement of no-sex-until-marriage that conservatives say it is. Go forth and spread the good news.
What are the characteristics of a good courtship gift? Mating is predominantly facilitated by an extravagant gift which is costly to the male but intrinsically worthless to the female.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced the unemployment rate for January had fallen, but how could it decline so much if businesses added so few workers?
Contrary to the “cyberutopians,” who consider the Internet a powerful tool of political emancipation, the Internet more often than not constricts or even abolishes freedom.
Lately, the drive to fix the climate has taken the form of large-scale geoengineering projects designed to reverse the effects of global warming.
The fact that people are economically irrational shows us precisely why government safety-net programmes are necessary, says Mike Konczal at the Roosevelt Institute.
Sports, and most importantly talking about sports, is the only activity just about all Americans share regardless of age, education, or wealth. It is what unites Wall Street and Main Street.
Those of us writers who are not experts on foreign policy have done more reading than writing this week about the tense situation between the Egyptian government and the Egyptian […]
It will not take much to fuel the ire of the Arab Street, as people begin to look beyond regime change in their own countries, and toward what their old regimes did or didn’t do when it came to Israel.
SETI’s search for extraterrestrial life has failed for decades. A likely reason might be they are looking for aliens who look like your neighbors at twilight.
Evidence is mounting that football is even more damaging to the brain than it is to the body—with links to Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.