Guest Thinkers

Are your kitchen cabinets overflowing with tableware you rarely use, only to find yourself in need of an essential missing piece for that dinner party? Eindhoven Design Academy graduate Maaike […]

The Air Force doesn’t want service members logging into Foursquare or Facebook Places. Earlier this month it circulated a message saying that the use of geolocation services—which keep track where […]

No long post today – busy with many relative here for Thanksgiving (ah, one of those perplexing American holidays) – but a couple quick notes: Bulusan: I saw an article […]

Like many other countries, the United States is buried under a pile of mounting debt. Tunneling out will mean making some tough choices that can’t be put off much longer.

Climate change is steering grizzly bears and polar bears on a collision course. When they meet in the middle, fights are inevitable. Find out who is favored to win, evolutionarily speaking.

When college students and professors are faced with profound questions, such as the meaning of life and death, they typically express their answers in deeply religious terms.

Maureen Dowd brought it up, but we are happy she did: it’s an excellent time to remember Kipling, and in particular to remember his most celebrated line from “Arithmetic on […]

Jezebel is trolling itself again. This afternoon, the well-known feminist blog published an essay by one Edward Pasteck entitled,”American Guy In Paris Freed From The Idea Of ‘Consent‘.” “Having just […]

When the TSA dramatically upped the level of intimacy for airport security scans this month, public outrage ensued, ranging from tongue-in-cheek mashups to grassroots activism. Now, designers are taking their stab […]

How can an entire universe come out of nothing? This would seem to violate the conservation of matter and energy, but Michio Kaku explains the answer.

In an recent Big Think essay, fellow blogger David Berreby argued that the U.S. deficit is largely a product of our increasingly high expectations about the quality of our health […]

Earlier today, I posted about the opportunity that rising gas prices and Holiday travel affords to engage Americans on energy choices and policies.  The problem, as I wrote, is that […]

This then is the sequence of events that has deeply alarmed the international community, fearful as it now is that full scale war could break out at anytime across the […]

The Chinese may not talk about sex, but they certainly do it. In fact, they probably do it just as much as the rest of us. What is obvious though […]

This holiday weekend, many in the science community are focused on the launch of “rapid response” coordination to provide faster, more accurate details about climate science to journalists and decision-makers.  […]

A quick update on the ongoing explosions at Bulusan in the Philippines. The volcano is still in a state of unrest, with frequent small explosions producing minor ash falls around […]

The first time I was subjected to a full body pat down was 25 years ago, in Detroit, when I went home with a college buddy. We were standing in […]

Australian researchers have found that women who tilt their faces forward are seen as more attractive, while men are considered better-looking when they tilt their heads backward.

We must move beyond cartoonish depictions of villainous, lustful men victimizing vulnerable women, says one woman who is happy she became a professional sex worker.

News that the Dalai Lama may retire in the next year is to be welcomed by all those sick of flattery and new age-type nonsense. The New Statesman goes on a diatribe.

Will Saletan of Slate has made a career of suggesting ways that women can compromise their bodily autonomy for the greater good. So, maybe I should take his latest column […]

Well, yesterday I needed a day off – Thanksgiving Break had just begun here and my brain was not ready for any productivity, so now I have a little catching […]

Aside from the almost comically anatomically incorrect shark, the aspect of John Singleton Copley’s 1778 painting Watson and the Sharkthat most catches my eye is the black seaman standing in […]

Chinese dairy farming is a growing source of greenhouse gas, but a massive biogas facility in the northeast will turn manure from farms into electricity and fertilizer.

A growing body of research suggests that maintaining an attitude of gratitude can improve psychological, emotional and physical well-being. That’s something to give thanks for.

Or, could Call of Duty: Black Ops take precedence on syllabi over The Illiad? This question has fresh relevance when considering Charlie Crist’s current dilemma: to pardon, or not, the […]

Pilots who shun full body scans are exempt from the TSA’s new “enhanced” body searches. Flight attendants are not. Their respective unions complained about the searches, but only pilots got […]

If we want to keep our strong military and provide health care for the elderly, we’re going to have to make sacrifices. It’s the responsible, patriotic thing to do.

The science community needs to partner with expert organizations in creating a new communication infrastructure about climate change that isn’t centered on scientific-information or the communication of risks.

Unsurprisingly perhaps there have been more than a few eyebrows raised in British political circles at the decision by an apparently cash strapped UK Government to loan the even more […]