Culture & Religion

Wireless companies are offering their customers’ location data to companies that plan to use it for purposes ranging from city planning to market research.

Unfortunately, it’s not because governments are getting along with each other: Deep cuts in American and European spending were balanced out by spending increases in China and Russia.

The quickening pace at which computer technology continues to advance has given many a futurist the hope for a union between man and machine. But there are other ways of being immortal. 

Sociology has robbed the arts (and artists) of the vocabulary needed to appreciate individual works of creativity and self-expression that work toward aesthetic goals, not just marketplace shares.

Canadian scientists used MRI to observe brain activity when subjects listened to music they never heard before. The reward center of the brain lit up in response to music they liked.

Taking the paywall concept in a different direction, a Dutch news site offers its readers the option to subscribe to an individual journalist’s “channel” for a small fee.

Like many sites, BigThink has a Terms of Use section. If certain members of Congress have their way, an amended Computer Fraud and Abuse Act could make violating those terms a criminal offense.

With the slow death of “appointment television” comes an increasing tendency for spoilers to pop up in unexpected places. Writer Sean T. Collins discusses fans’ and critics’ attempts to preserve the suspense.

While apologizing may not always make us feel rosy and sure of ourselves, there are substantial societal benefits achieved through apology which help explain the importance of the behavior.

Among several companies that have announced plans to bring 3D scanning to the masses is Toronto-based Matterform, which is offering a portable device for less than the cost of some tablets.

Inspired by the unique structure of the Blue Morpho’s iridescent wings, a Vancouver-based company has created an anti-counterfeiting technology that leaps several steps ahead of holography.

Although it took place early last month, the winning party is preparing to change the balance of power in the materials export industry, affecting production of electronics worldwide.

Not as firm as you probably think they are, according to mounting evidence that describes the ways in which our ethical principles are subject to some rather whimsical alternations. 

The parameters of marriage are changing, not just in front of the Supreme Court, but in the very fabric of our society. Has love and affection replaced having children as the goal of marriage?

The French are the least happy people in Europe, according to a new survey of French nationals living in France and abroad. The author of the new research blames French culture itself. 

We have reached a moral, legal and demographic tipping point in the controversy. Many signs point to an imminent marriage revolution: gay and lesbian Americans across the country will enjoy a right to marry — maybe before the end of the year. 

From the viewpoint of our genes, having children must be the meaning of life, says science writer Dr. Lawrence Rifkin. The only purpose of their existence is to be passed down to future generations.

A survey of American adults showed that while more of us are living more of our lives online than ever before, there’s a corresponding rise in the need for and appreciation of physical objects, tasks, and connections.

He billed his first presidential visit to Israel as a listening tour, but it turns out Barack Obama is doing quite a bit of speaking as well. On his first […]

Austin is weird. The town’s tagline, “a collaborative fission of coordinated individualism,” is part hilarious and part profound. However it really is on point… the town is extra-ordinarily unique. Maybe […]

As of Monday, a new law went into effect that gave people in certain types of live-in relationships the same rights that legally married couples can claim in the event of a breakup.

Researchers at Cornell University were recently able to tell who certain individuals were thinking of, given a set of four possible people through the course of an experiment.

Although only 50 or so participants appeared at the all-male event, its sponsors feel it’s a small step towards changing gender attitudes in an India fractured by recent violent attacks on women.

Citing that it causes confusion, the Mid-Devon local government will discuss proposals to remove the punctuation mark from street signs altogether. Unsurprisingly, language and grammar purists are outraged.

Inventors rarely have those hallowed ‘Eureka’ moments. Developing an idea and making it work takes time and patience. While technology develops fast, successful ideas take time to finesse. 

Arriving in Dutch theaters next month, “AFP” involves viewers in the action by delivering story content to their phones during the movie.

The 5 Point Cafe, located near the Space Needle as well as Amazon headquarters, may be the first business to bar the augmented reality device from its premises…and it probably won’t be the only one.

A publishing CEO urged his industry peers to bring literary authors and software developers together to create something better than ebooks, which he said were “a boring format that just comes straight out of normal books.”

The days leading up to the start of the papal election process offer yet another demonstration of technology’s power in bringing millions of people together.

At one of the world’s biggest religious festivals, a charity founded in 1946 brings separated people together. Their record is much better than India’s at large.