Guest Thinkers

On New Year’s Day, a bomb exploded outside a Coptic church in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, killing 21 people and injuring 79 more. It was the deadliest terrorist attack […]

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) was shot in the head and severely wounded by a gunman who ran up to her at a campaign event in a Tucson supermarket parking lot […]

The notion that physics might have metaphysical meaning for human beings is as old as physics itself. Today, is there such thing as quantum spirituality?

China’s visiting vice premier said his country would buy $7.9 billion in Spanish bonds. El País newspaper dubbed Li Keqiang the new ‘Mr. Marshall’, alluding to America’s Marshall Plan.

We know birds raise their voices to make themselves heard in the noisy big city, but for the first time there is evidence that they may even be evolving as a result of city living.

Travel has long had an environmental cost: gasoline, jet fuel, spandex pants for bicycling. With space tourism soon to become a common occurrence, what will be the environmental price?

One billion people already go hungry each day; if poor population centers seek to use natural resources to the extent Western countries do, how can our planet survive?

In a country that prizes self- reliance and private solutions for social problems, more young adults are doomed to sink, says a new book on the American twenty-something.

There’s a lot of talk on BIG THINK about evolutionary explanations of this or that human behavior.  They’re all pretty fascinating, although far from completely convincing. Darwinian explanations, for what […]

Hours after AQAP pulled off one ambush in Abyan, they were back at it, ambushing another convoy of soldiers this afternoon. This time they attacked a convoy (Ar) that included […]

Lots of things going on the planet right now concerning volcanoes, but many don’t have a lot of information to go with the news. I’ll try to fill in as […]

At 10 am this morning, a group of al-Qaeda fighters shouting Allahu Akbar ambushed a convoy of military vehicles from the Central Security Forces, killing anywhere from 6 to 12 […]

There’s been a pretty bizarre spate of mass animal deaths reported around the world. What the hell is going on? Unfortunately, there’s no good answer.

If the adage “history is written by the winners” is true, then what does that mean for African American history, especially now that more W’s are slowly but surely showing […]

Amongst the weaponry of the Spanish Inquisition were such diverse elements as fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope, or at least that’s how the […]

1. The study of great books is usually contrasted with the use of textbooks and other technical books. It is contrasted, in other words, with study of the studies that […]

No one has a crystal ball, but some predictions that I made in recent years are coming into sharp focus with every scientific advance. For starters, every year, more organs […]

Nobody in Congress really cares about the deficit. Sure, everyone would love to cut the deficit as long as it doesn’t mean having to cut any programs they like. What […]

Dwight Garner wins the Lede of the Day Award for his scathing and accurate assessment of the New York Times Book Review’s self-help bestseller list: The New York Times Book […]

Open Congress has the latest on the senate Democrats’ filibuster reform plan: Senators Tom Udall [D, NM], Tom Harkin [D, IA] and Jeff Merkley [D, OR] have released an official […]

GUEST POST WITH MANJULA KHANNA Our lives are techno-infused: the air is pregnant with possibility in an environment of constant connectivity and ever changing information. We use technology for almost […]

Yes, it is time for the first Smithsonian/USGS Global Volcanism Program Weekly Volcanic Activity Report of the new year. Well, not entirely of the new year, but we can count it […]

Some on the right are challenging congressional Republicans to increase federal investment in science and technology.

Oh, those Pakistanis.  First, they claim that a drone strike killed Fahd al-Qusa and then months later al-Qusa appears safe and sound on the front page of al-Sharq al-Awsat, where […]

One of the regular features of the old Waq al-waq was the day in papers, and as I slowly adjust to the new site I’m bringing it back. We start […]

It’s a new year in Congress. With the start of the 112th Congress the Republicans have assumed control of the House. Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) became the new Speaker of […]

Over at the NY Times’ Dot Earth blog, Andrew Revkin discusses the analysis of climate change coverage trends that I posted about earlier this week.  In Revkin’s post, Drexel University […]

Three books showed up this week with chapters by ME in them.  Even without those chapters, each would still be a fabulous (although somewhat diminished) book.  So as not to […]

Several weeks ago the editors at Foreign Policy asked me (and several other people, most of whom are much smarter than me) to participate in a survey on terrorism.  The […]

Some quick news updates on a cold Wednesday here in Ohio where I am buried in edits to a manuscript: Etna: Dr. Boris Behncke and the staff at the INGV […]