Yesterday’s post ended by suggesting that a single-minded obsession with population actually distracts people from the difficult realities of the quest for sustainability in this century. Lest this sound like […]
All Articles
In another nod to biomimicry as a potent source of design and engineering innovation, researchers at Princeton University have developed a new sensor that can change the way drugs and […]
The word “occult” is loaded with all sorts of associations. To some it conjures images of devil worship and witchcraft; to others it is just a concoction of superstition and […]
The War of the Worlds dramatization that aired October 30, 1938 has been called “the most famous radio show of all time.”
The signs were all there that Merapi was headed towards a new eruptive phase and today at ~6 PM (local time in Indonesia), Merapi erupted. This is a double (possibly […]
At the Washington Post yesterday, staff writer Paul Fahri described several of the emerging areas of research on The Daily Show and similar forms of political parody. The feature emphasizes […]
“Beautifully preserved bees, ants, spiders and other small prehistoric creatures that lived 50 million years ago have been unearthed in a huge amber deposit in India.”
“Governments don’t want to admit the failure of health-care or surveillance systems, and they are afraid of the trade and travel sanctions that may result from a large outbreak.”
Software developer Steve Laniel says that if we really want the Information Age rather than the Chatter Age, there’s only one solution: relearn self-control.rn
“The creator of America’s first and best satirical daily newspaper cartoon talks about 40 years of upsetting politicians and editors.”
“Mentally disturbed people are not merely paying a personal price for our social sanity, but are sometimes gifted too in their own peculiar way.”
“What makes cobras kings is not just their size, or their deadliness…it is that they eat other snakes. How does the king cobra maintain such an apparently high-risk lifestyle?”
“Our self-image is one of bold action. In reality, Americans resist change, pressing the government to act boldly only when a national calamity forces it upon us.”
“One obvious problem for many porn users is the conflict between their stated belief in equality and respect for women, and the material they’re watching in private.”
“American journalists in Baghdad were under attack not just from Iraqi insurgents, but, at least verbally, from our own country’s civilian and military commanders as well.”
A US study into adult creativity has discovered that the more an adult acts and thinks like a child, the more imaginative he or she becomes.
Large-scale drainage projects were popular in the early 20th century – but most came to nothing.
For a few decades in the 20th century, it seemed as humanity’s triumphs of public health were turning into an ironic and deadly trap. Because more babies were surviving infancy […]
Why is it that we when we talk about our work, we inspire neither those we address nor ourselves?
People who live in religious neighborhoods buy just as much pornography as people everywhere else. They’re just less likely to subscribe to an online porn site on a Sunday.
Many Eruptions readers have been keeping a very close eye on the events at Merapi in Indonesia – you should check out their discussion. The situation at the volcano is […]
(Note: Look for updates on Merapi and Kliuchevskoi later today) I caught an article over the weekend about the potential of recent volcanism on Venus. The study that appeared Geophysical Research Letters found […]
“For both F.D.R. and Obama, national economic disaster was electoral good fortune. But Obama’s luck ran out almost as soon as the votes had been counted.”
Is our universe simply a hologram? Particle astrophysicist Craig Hogan is building the most precise clock of all time to directly measure whether our reality is an illusion.
“Writer Hunter S. Thompson, the king of gonzo journalism, was not a skier, so why did he choose to live in Aspen?” The Guardian searches for the ski-resort counterculture.
“What makes some people so much more alluring than others? The Independent discovers that good looks and sexiness are determined before we’re even born.”
“There is a tension between stories and statistics, and one under-appreciated contrast between them is simply the mindset with which we approach them.”
As car ownership rates drop in urban areas, B.M.W. has a foreword thinking business idea. The company will rent its cars by the hour to customers in Munich, Germany.
“Will the average earnings of women begin before long to exceed that of men after being so far behind in the past?” Nobel Laureate Gary Becker on women’s propensity for education.