About 500 million people in India have no form of reliable identification. The government has started a five-year $430m project to address that with a huge biometric database.
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A week and a half ago, I found myself at Camp Nelson, which trained the third largest contingent of African American soldiers during the Civil War, the sole African American […]
As the pace of technology advances and machines get smarter, should robots be granted legal rights? Some countries are already laying the groundwork.
If the hunt for the God Particle really is over, what does that mean for physics and, more importantly, for you?
After the space shuttle Endeavour lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center this week, there will only be one more space shuttle mission left before the era of NASA’s manned […]
A limited-edition map celebrated the coincidence of a patriotic occation with a pig-centric one.
The former Foreign Affairs editor dissects the massive demographic and environmental tensions building in China and threatening its rise.
One of the major strategic communication battles that took place during the debate over cap and trade legislation was the advertising war between the Clean Coal Coalition and Al Gore’s […]
New technology start-ups are increasingly locating in Berlin, where many companies are beginning to innovate rather than simply clone successful American ideas.
Piracy is not the only problem in the complex, multi-border world of modern merchant shipping. Unsafe and abusive ships abound. Do we need a “Save Our Seafarers” campaign?
Leading from behind. Is that the best policy for the U.S. in a world in which its power is waning? America must act more humbly, maybe, but is it stuck again in the Middle East?
Obsessing over the injustices of Guantánamo Bay may become a surrogate for a wider hatred of America. But read the files and you’ll realise that obsession is the only humane response.
The story of hunger and poverty is very complex. It is a world where those without enough to eat may save up to buy a TV instead. Where more money may not mean more food.
There has been some discussion over the years here on Eruptions about what might happen if you were to bomb an eruption volcano. Now, this might be to divert a […]
In a guest post today, Samantha Miller digs deeper into understanding the nature of labeling in the organic food market. Miller is a graduate student in Journalism at American University. […]
There is so much beautiful writing about war. One of the first, best stories of a soldier (and his return home) is Homer’s The Odyssey. It captures –metaphorically, and at […]
Another fine feature of REAL EDUCATION by Hacker and Dreifus is its sensitive and altogether unideological treatment of professors who become legends. Among the legends they mention, one is still […]
This semester, as part of the course on Science, the Environment and the Media at American University, four graduate students in the class have focused their group project on the […]
The first thing you hear from him is a complaint: He’s talking, but the other guy isn’t listening. The last thing he does is announce he’s not going to talk […]
The theory of “motivated reasoning” explains that our quick-fire emotions can set us on a course of thinking that’s highly biased, especially on topics we care a great deal about.
Psychology can and should do more than reduce mental suffering, argues positive psychology guru Martin Seligman in his new book. It should encourage optimism about life, he says.
Collecting life stories and human brains is the business of the University of California San Diego’s brain bank. Donal Trump’s would be a good fit, says brain bank neurologist Jacopo Annese.
When we read, we feel a real human connection without engaging in real relationships. “Something else important must be happening,” says psychology professor Shira Gabriel.
Patricia Churchland, a philosopher at the University of California San Diego, says understanding morality means understanding its roots in the brain, i.e. our “circuitry for caring”.
How about a lamp that provides you with free and environmentally friendly energy.. forever! All you have to do is water it. Literally. Soil Lamp is an invention of the […]
It is impossible for me to think about Easter without thinking about estrus – the peak of female sexuality that takes place when a woman is most fertile. It should […]
A month ago I wrote an article expressing my concern over whether the U.S. has a clear, achievable plan in Libya. I knew at the time that President Obama would […]
If you think about any of the most popular Internet start-ups that have appeared on the public radar within the past year, they all share one unique characteristic: they are […]
Another chapter in the ongoing David-and-Goliath saga between organic farmers and the agriculture and biotechnology company Monsanto kicked off recently with a lawsuit filed in federal court.