The GRAMMYS turned out to be one of the classiest and most entertaining award shows ever. Certainly the show blew away the Super Bowl on both fronts. Even the commercials […]
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Eighteen months ago, I interviewed President Mohamed Nasheed, the Maldives first ever democratically elected leader, for al Jazeera TV in the capital, Male. Then, as now, this small Indian Ocean […]
Moves toward regional currencies, and perhaps to a single global currency, could make wealth more stable by reducing speculation and simplifying governments’ monetary policies.
With its stagnant economy, the United States should pick out the best ideas from the Chinese model of economic development and fit them to work for its own system.
Reading last week about the death of Florence Green, Women’s Royal Air Force member and last surviving veteran of the First World War, I thought of a sonorous passage by […]
“If you want to replenish your visual thinking, you have to go back to nature,” David Hockney says in Bruno Wollheim’s film David Hockney: A Bigger Picture, “because there’s the […]
Always mindful of the mind, Jonah Lehrer offers a brief history of creativity. Based on empirical results, brainstorming and teleconferencing are out, accidental interactions and trust are in.
Grogginess is a virtue when it comes to finding creative solutions to tricky problems. Lack of concentration frees your mind to create new associations that may yield an important new insight.
Like its own self-sustaining chain reaction, the battle over nuclear power rages on. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has for the first time since 1978 approved construction of new nuclear reactors. […]
Having a positive attitude is about more than being in a good mood. The way you think determines parts of your body chemistry, which in turn control your physical health.
Researchers say emotionally intense music releases dopamine in the brain, the same chemical that creates a sensation of reward while eating good food, having sex or taking drugs.
Women’s psychology is better suited to keeping the peace, say some of today’s top minds. Informed by evolution, women have a greater incentive to negotiate with those around them.
In the last 50 years, cancer has proven to be more resilient than we first thought, but inexpensive genome sequencing could allow us to create individualized cancer treatments.
The “slippery slope” is a popular argument in the same-sex marriage debate. Where do you draw the line, opponents argue? If you start allowing marriage between people of the same […]
Scientists have discovered a class of chemicals that stick strongly to the sugary shell which coats the HIV virus. The coating enables the virus to slip past the body’s immune system.
Summary: The Roman Catholic equivalent of Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s “Infidel”. A luminous, extraordinary account of one woman who devoted her life to Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity, saw the organization […]
As NPR recently reported, there’s a high price to pay for being a black atheist in America. African Americans who come out of the closet as nonreligious may be cut […]
I don’t think I’ve ever written this sentence before, but here goes: There’s been so much good news on the pro-choice front lately, it’s hard to keep up! Since my […]
A particular version of the sex chromosome predisposes men to contracting heart disease. While environmental factors remain important, an important genetic link has been discovered.
In a new Harvard survey, a majority of doctors said they had been overly optimistic about a patient’s prognosis and ten percent said they had told patients something that was not true.
The American culture has developed an adversarial relationship to food, often concentrating on what not to eat. The age-old practice of ‘mindful eating’ may restore our body to health.
A new tour at the Museum of Modern Art in New York has many seeing red over “seeing” Reds in the collection. As reported in Art News, Artist Yevgeniy Fiks’ […]
When asked by CNN’s John King what he thinks about the Pentagon’s recent decision to allow female troops to serve nearer the front lines of battle, Rick Santorum replied that […]
On Tuesday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the 2010 district court ruling that California’s Proposition 8 forbidding same-sex marriages was unconstitutional. It was the first time a federal […]
Last time, in the introductory post, I suggested that evidence is more important than outrage. Outrage indicates how outraged individuals want the world to be; evidence tells everyone how the […]
In the continuing flap over the Obama administration’s decision to require Catholic institutions to provide birth control under the new health care law, both sides have failed to come to grips with the complexities of religious liberty.
Diversity in all senses encourages creativity and innovation by fusing together two or more ideas that are traditionally separate. Specialists are often too narrowly focused.
At the annual Loebner Prize Competition, robots compete against humans trying to convince judges they are actually human. Might the judges determine your boss is actually a robot?
This semester, students from a diversity of majors at American University are participating in an advanced seminar I am teaching on science and environmental communication. For the first part of the […]
On China’s microblogging site Weibo, rumors of Kim Jong-un’s death surfaced earlier today when bloggers posted that he was assassinated in Beijing. Media outlets have yet to issue any official […]