A new bioplastic made from switchgrass is durable, capable of withstanding high temperatures, and, most importantly, biodegradable. Could this technology placate critics of corn-based alternatives?
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While much remains unknown about the deadly disease, advances in research have shed new light on its mechanisms, and on how dementia affects the aging brain.
“The Abu Dhabi art fair offers a glimpse of the emirate’s impressive cultural ambitions.” The city will soon host branches of the Louvre and Guggenheim museums.
As companies look for scalable ways to store their data, cloud computing appears more attractive than ever. The industry is receiving a good amount of venture capital.
The Federal Reserve’s planned injection of $650 billion into the Treasury is creating investment where there otherwise wouldn’t be. In other words, a bubble, says Jesse Eisinger.
“Pornography is dangerous to children because it creates an artificially sexualised atmosphere for adults.” This blurs the boundaries of acceptable sexual conduct, says Sigrid Rausing.
Harvard labor economist Richard Freeman says American labor laws are hopelessly behind the times and that New Deal gains no longer fit the economy of 2010.
Mahatma Gandhi was not the solitary hero of popular myth. He was an entrepreneur who relied on a tight-knit community of co-workers, says Yale historian Ian Desai.
Experiments suggest that people are covetous of the things possessed by angry people. The attraction could be evolutionary: more aggressive hunters capture more food.
Each device that connects to the Internet is assigned an I.P. address, but we are quickly approaching the numerical 4.3 billion limit. The Daily Beast on possible solutions.
The bipartisan deficit commission has recommended cutting Medicare, Social Security and defense spending. It reads like a report from Mars, says economist Dean Baker.
Forbes’ Katie Phillips sets some limits on political correctness and politeness even though obeying her conscience could cost her some Facebook friends.
George Soros killed JR. I couldn’t figure yesterday out why all of these statements like this one about George Soros were appearing on my Twitter timeline. So I added a […]
Each sport is governed by different sets of rules, and those that use balls each have different specifications for their equipment.
Big Think interviewed an array of luminaries in a variety of fields this week, including “The Office” star Rainn Wilson, famed novelist Salman Rushdie, and writer Walter Mosley. Rushdie came […]
“What are the fundamental roots of our behavior as human beings,” asks Harvard Business School professor Paul Lawrence. This is a huge question to be sure, but Lawrence has a […]
Earlier this week we talked about whether or not a brothel for women would be profitable. In that post, I argued that it is men’s willingness to engage in sex […]
It’s a sad fact of human history that the leadership regime most obsessed with art belonged to that of the Nazis. From Adolf Hitler the frustrated painter to obsessive collectors […]
Tomorrow is Remembrance Day, a occasion originally conceived for somber reflection on bitter and pointless trench warfare. It is fitting that the Republicans chose this week to announce their plans […]
Two volcanoes are headed into different directions this week – activity at Merapi appears to be down while explosions are continuing at Bulusan. This is not to say that the […]
At a recent press briefing, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs took his first question from Twitter. Ecuador’s president declared a state of emergency via Twitter. The first photo of […]
UK FOREIGN SECRETARY, WILLIAM HAGUE’S pledge to strengthen the role of human rights in British Foreign policy and set up an independent advisory body to do just that, has done […]
The gap between rich and poor in the U.S. is bigger than at any time since the 1920s. The L.A. Times asks: Is that really what most Americans want?
Behind the fiercely ambitious texts of the iconoclastic philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche was a kind man who was nice to children and terribly polite, writes Jonathan Rée.
Humanities professor Stanley Fish reviews a plethora of books recently written about the crisis in liberal arts education and finds hope in one innovative college.
Notions of time bound up with Christian conceptions of God changed with Einstein. Yet a consensus on the nature of time still seems out of reach.
The domestic technologies that have increased leisure hours in the West were virtually non-existent in the Soviet-planned economy, just ask its housewives.
Tens of millions of people live, work and play in virtual worlds where anything goes. Greg Lastowka thinks we need to police these lawless frontiers.
Airbus engineer Yelken Octuri has designed a spaceship especially for honeymooners. Once in orbit, the craft releases honeymoon pods with a view of space and big, round bed.
International institutions have been weakened by the economic crisis. Harvard’s Dani Rodik says individuals countries are once again competing economically.