Guest Thinkers

I have a new book out!  It’s Modern and American Dignity: Who We Are as Persons, and What That Means for our Future. Here’s a review/blurb: Peter Lawler is today’s […]

For 50 years, the U.S. Geological Survey has been building an archive of old photos of desert landscapes and new photos of them. Check out the fascinating results.

For a few decades now, the title holder for largest volcano in the solar system has been Mars’ Olympus Mons. The volcano is a large – and by that I […]

By mid-century there could be over 200 million Chinese Christians.

Yesterday, SpaceX became the very first commercial company in history to re-enter spacecraft from low-Earth orbit. Another first was on November 23rd when the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a […]

Can watching the market for sex toys help predict a recession?

Self justification, we are told, is an unhealthy preoccupation. But just for a change – and considering the enormity of the issues that are and have been at stake, I […]

Churchill’s role during World War Two has become the stuff of legend. Less well understood is how he came to lead his nation at that crucial moment, says biographer Michael Makovsky.

“More competition means lower prices. Lower prices mean better access.” The Economist sees a clear horizon for private space missions following the launch of Space X’s Dragon capsule.

Geoengineering may sound like a bad action movie plot, but now scientists from the U.K. have published the first comprehensive assessment of this controversial climate change solution.

As you might have read, I will be a panelist at the science blogging workshop at the 2010 AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco next week. I will be tackling […]

Visual literacy is an essential necessity of modern life. But some of the most widely recognized symbols of visual language are wrapped in a surprising amount of historical and contextual […]

China is now Africa’s second largest trade partner—with business worth over $100 billion a year, and growing. It is relying on the continent’s natural resources to fuel its growth.

China’s drive to be the world’s biggest economy will come hand in hand with its increased naval presence around the world.

In a post today, risk communication expert and AoE guest contributor David Ropeik focuses on how journalists covering common health risks such as mercury in fish or endocrine disruptors in […]

Like the banshee of Irish and Scottish legend, Scottish artist Susan Philipsz keens songs of lamentation and loss that haunt those within hearing of the “sound sculptures” centered on her […]

Some of Julian Assange’s defenders* are citing this special report by Mark Hosenball as proof that the rape allegations against the wikileaks figurehead are unfounded. WASHINGTON (Reuters) The two Swedish […]

The latest edition of the Media Consortium’s Weekly Pulse features: -An op/ed by doctor who specializes in treating STIs in a military town. Some of Dr. Kenneth Katz’s military patients […]

Hunger is not sexy. Hunger is not the new black. Hunger is not in style, this season or any other. President Obama knows instinctively that the most important issue is […]

We have to stop kidding ourselves, Paul Krugman says. No one in Congress really cares about the deficit. Krugman’s right. As much as our politicians claim to care about the […]

Do science journalists have weird psychic powers? You might think so, given the near simultaneity of publications this fall on the touchy theme of studies that don’t really prove what they’re supposed to have proved.

So, the start of the week has now officially ranked on the busiest I have had in, well, years, so the posts have been more than a little sparse – […]

I went from the paintings, prints and poetry of John Lennon to the paintings and prints of William Tolliver in twenty four hours this weekend. Friday night, instead of parking […]

Every once in a while, scientists come up with an clever idea that is so novel and unexpected that it catches you by surprise. The idea by itself may not […]

We’ve previously looked at educational tools that help consumers make better choices when it comes to sustainability. Now, a new joint project between the Not For Sale Campaign and International […]

We are becoming used to Wikileaks reports of cables from US Diplomats being immediately accepted as factual statements, rather than opinion based on encounters. The latest being the leaked communiqués […]

Anyone who wishes to think well and feel well about the world should seek a way of thinking that is more capacious than Aristotle’s principle of non-contradiction, says Patrick Miller.

You can always count on the MoMA for two things: high-concept theme shows and high-concept theme shows that go in directions you didn’t expect. On Line: Drawing Through the Twentieth […]

It is the perfect time for teenagers who love writing, and writers, to have an outlet for their creativity: they are, or soon will be, reading Salinger in class, and […]

Feminist attorney Jill Filipovic takes a closer look at the sex crime allegations against Julian Assange of wikileaks. I think the post strikes exactly the right balance between being skeptical […]