Guest Thinkers

Last summer I described how psychologists at Rutgers closed the usual gap between higher boys’ and lower girls’ scores on high-school chemistry tests. When the students used a textbook whose […]

The Radical ’80s Prom was a huge success. We drew over 100 paying customers and raised over $1000 for Women Action and Media, a national organization dedicated to creating gender […]

Over at USA Today, Dan Vergano’s Science Snapshop blog is one of the top places to track news about science research, science policy, and the connections between science and culture. […]

If diplomacy and pressure fail, and if an Iranian bomb is built or advances to the very threshold, the supposed remedy of a “military solution” would be more unacceptable still.

Nihilism is one state a culture may reach when it no longer has a unique and agreed upon social ground. Harvard philosophy professor Sean Kelly looks for meaning in our secular age.

As more wives out-earn their husbands and outshine them at the office, many couples secretly struggle with reversed gender roles—sometimes leading to adultery or even health issues.

TONY Blair’s journeyings have recently taken him from a well paid gig addressing a conference of sanitary ware and toilet roll manufacturers (he reputedly received a $50,000 fee) in the United […]

The leaks are catastrophic. The leaks are not catastrophic. Diplomacy’s at risk. Diplomacy’s redeemed. While we develop the questions and wait for the answers, let’s parse another, less quixotic topic […]

AAAS is sponsoring an important event pegged to the Holidays.  Details are below and readers in Washington, DC can register to attend the event at the AAAS Web site. As […]

Developing nations accuse the West of intransigence, as corruption is cited as obstacle to progress. The Independent reports on climate change talks in Cancun, Mexico.

There is worry among some that Europe’s military budget cuts will not only scale back personnel and material, but the continent’s reach and ambition throughout the world.

China insists that its growing military and diplomatic clout pose no threat. The rest of the world, and particularly America, is not so sure, says Edward Carr at The Economist.

I mentioned earlier today that I was hoping that nothing big happened over the weekend because of all the grading I needed to do. Well, it looks like I need […]

Last week I called attention to a front page article at the Washington Post which questioned the impact of the $90 billion spent by the Obama administration on the creation […]

In the wake of Wikileaks release of leaked diplomatic cables, the White House has directed federal employees not to access the Wikileaks web site with out authorization. That includes people […]

Daryl J. Bem’s experiments on psi caught the world’s attention, as I posted last month, because he used standard psychology-lab methods to gather and analyze his data. Imagine what astronomers […]

According to the latest Wikileaks, British Conservative party politicians lined up before the general election last May to promise that they would run a “pro-American regime” and buy more arms […]

‘Tis the season to be reading!In a sweeping panoramic new book titled The World in 2050: Four Forces Shaping Civilization’s Northern Future, UCLA professor Laurence C. Smith delivers a well-written and […]

Riding the rails with U.S. Amtrack may feel even slower after a Chinese train’s latest record-breaking run. The unmodified passenger train reached a blistering 302 m.p.h.

The early 20th century was a boom time for the American drinks industry. Prohibition wrecked all of that, severely damaging American’s collective knowledge and experience of drinking.

The pipe dream of the paperless office has been around for a while, hoping to mitigate the massive paper waste generated by the corporate world – 1,410 unnecessary pages printed […]

Yesterday I tried to clear up some of the confusion surrounding the fight in Congress over extending the Bush tax cuts. But in the process of trying to explain how […]

While we still haven’t quite discovered the fabled Fountain of Youth, a major breakthrough was recently made toward the goal of eternal life. Scientists at Harvard Medical School have discovered […]

There is a very real danger that some analysts, diplomats, commentators and politicians are taking all that is revealed by Wikileaks at face value, without questioning the veracity of some […]

3D printing is easily the biggest design futurism meme of 2010. We’ve previously looked at other approaches to on-demand, DIY, factory-free design objects. Now, NYC-based designer Alissia Melka-Teichroew is applying […]

Yesterday my boss asked me a question out of the blue.  “Didn’t you used to sell stocks?” “A long time ago,” I said. And with that, he began to tell […]

This sums up everything that needs to be said about the “populist” Tea Party. It’s not populist and its values of are antithetical to those of the Boston Tea Party. […]

Tax cuts are in the eye of the beholder. The House voted today 234 to 188 to extend the Bush tax cuts for people earning less than $250,000 a year. […]

There hasn’t been a lot of coverage in the news, but Ethiopia’s Erta’Ale has started issuing new lava flows over the last week. I got a note from an Eruptions […]

While online tools for personal finance management like Mint and Outright make it increasingly easier to keep track of our “digital money,” there’s something to be said for the dwindling […]