The discovery of ancient planets and new data suggesting that carbon may have formed in the early universe has overturned conventional wisdom about the possibility of very early life.
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University students and private companies are racing to build the first private spacecraft to land on the moon. Google and the X Prize Foundation are offering $20 million to the winner.
In the first of my posts summing up the Reason Rally, there was a commenter who said that gathering on the National Mall was “sink[ing] to the level of the […]
A few simple concepts power today’s powerful data mining algorithms, allowing companies and governments to gather data about who you are, what you do and what you might do.
Young people are already used to social media being a part of nearly everything they experience. So will books become the next part of life to become an interactive conversation?
Editorial Note: This is a guest contribution from KristenWolf, author of The Way, which was was recently selected by Oprah for her Reading List. Everyone grows up under the shadow of religion. No matter your […]
“Lesbian break-ups can apparently be bitchier than gay men’s.” wrote columnist Giles Hattersley in the Sunday Times this weekend as he speculated his way through a piece on why 62% […]
What is the Big Idea? While the world was celebrating Nobel prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi’s party’s victory in Sunday’s special elections in Myanmar, a new currency exchange rate went […]
Nobody tasked with running a business wants to join another social networking platform. Here are some ways to use the platforms you already subscribe to more effectively.
What’s the Big Idea? If you’ve ever shopped, socialized, or signed up for anything online, there’s a chance that information you offered up willingly, in a seemingly private context, is […]
Who would have thought that Oprah Winfrey, of all people, was not yet ready for primetime? And yet, that’s exactly the mistake she says she made — along with supposedly […]
California-based TED is perhaps the most visible of the groups that are leading the crossover of serious intellectual thought into the pop mainstream. TED’s approach – the 18 minute inspirational […]
Item:A study finds that between 1970 and 2009, melanoma skin cancer cases increased eight times in women aged 18-39, and four times in men, apparently from increasing use of tanning […]
In many areas, clean energy technology has already reached an apex. What remains lacking are efficient distribution channels and better consumer communication. IT can fix all that.
While it’s tempting to mock the hollow chants of health care law critics as Jon Stewart did last Thursday — “what do we want? freedom! when do we want it? now!” — […]
There is no turning back. We live in a connected world and we are better because of it. We know more than ever before and we are more social than ever before. But we have to learn to take care of our brains to avoid an iDisorder. Don’t blame Steve Jobs for your compulsions. Take control and do something good for your brain.
When attached to a headband, a new mobile device the size of a matchbox can pick up the electricity signals of your thoughts. Called iBrain, it is currently being tested on Stephen Hawking.
On the Internet, we’ve reached a tipping point where more than 50% of all Internet traffic is no longer generated by humans – instead, it’s generated by a motley mix […]
As new technologies offer us new ways of communicating with machines and one another, people are starting to realize that we’re unlikely to end up with a one-size-fits-all solution.
Who would have guessed that, in 2012, radio could rival video as a medium for communicating complex scientific and mathematical concepts?
Most of us are fortunate enough to never have to ask where our food comes from. When we are young it just seems to materialize. A trip to the grocery […]
The model of the multinational corporation will give way to the multinational cooperative, say business experts. By 2025, cooperatives are expected to be a dominant business model.
This is a tale of two drones. One is the stuff of crazy science fiction. The other is a reality. Now here’s the twist: individuals are making DIY drones a reality while large government-sponsored researchers are the ones writing the science fiction.
Albert W. Florence was riding in the passenger seat of his car when his wife was pulled over for speeding. When the investigating officer searched his records he found Mr. […]
As countries like China, India and South Africa come of age, they are more likely to adopt European-style national health care services than America’s peculiar brand of privatization.
Media professional Helen Croydon quickly tired of dating younger men in her profession. That’s when she discovered the world of ‘allowance dating’, i.e. finding sugar daddies online.
–Guest post by Josephine Chu, graduate student at American University. In the last ten years, the rise of a variety of web-based and social media platforms has dramatically changed the […]
A new book which points out correlations between political views and character types (determined by genetics) misses the fact that climate change skepticism exists in Europe, too.
With Willard Mitt Romney, American politics has moved beyond the predictable Newtonian rules of campaigning, into the bewildering and unpredictable era of quantum politicking.