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This month, federal regulators vindicated Dr. Maria New, a leading pediatric endocrinologist who studies prenatal treatment for congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), a hereditary disease that exposes the fetus to excessive […]
I’m putting out the last call for questions about Mt. Hood magmatism for Dr. Adam Kent of Oregon State University. He has offered to take your questions about his recentNature […]
TO have lived away from Britain and then to return is to realise that Britain is an increasingly parochial country, and one in which what passes for media debate is […]
There’s speculation all over the Web today about what seems at first to be an unexpected survey finding from the Pew Research Center: Even after controlling for education, Atheists, agnostics, […]
The NASA Earth Observatory has posted two images of erupting volcanoes this week, so I thought I’d spotlight these systems: Barren Island, India:This image captures the volcano in the Indian […]
Last week, I introduced a series about a Colorado ballot initiative that would amend the state’s constitution to define a person under the law as “a human being from the […]
For Washington, DC area readers, talks this Thursday evening and Friday afternoon may be of interest. Details below. For directions and a map of American University, go here. Panel on […]
It’s kind of hard to live in Atlanta and not write a few words about Eddie Long, the pastor of the metro area’s own New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, who […]
“My suspicion is that most of us would be quite surprised by the things our grandchildren will condemn us for.” The Economist’s Democracy in America blog on moral progress.
“So-called geothermal power has been around for more than a century. What will it take to heat up this energy source?” Scientific American on the promising power source.
“A federal law is needed to cover threats against free-speech rights. Across media and geographies, Islamic extremists are increasingly using intimidation to stifle free expression.”
Who gets to say who owns our libraries, and what are the risks embedded in making a library profit-driven? The New York Times choice to give Library Systems and Services […]
GOP senate hopeful Sharron Angle will see your lunacy and raise you. These days it’s fashionable to claim that vaccination is a Big Pharma/Big Government conspiracy to cause autism. Angle […]
Design and innovation powerhouse IDEO is known for using design thinking and keen behavioral insight to reinvent object, products and systems that touch our daily lives. Most recently, they envisioned […]
The United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) has announced that it will consider drafting protocols for what to do when we finally make contact with extra-terrestrial civilizations in […]
Big Think today features a new set of interviews with NIH director Francis Collins, perhaps best known as the former director of the Human Genome Project and for his books […]
Sometimes I think “entitled” is the new “uppity.” It’s the new all-purpose put down for anyone who seems too aware of their own power. By way of backstory, college journalism […]
Two insightful articles in the New York Times this past week highlighted the very nascent trend of using technology as a philosophical concept to educate children. Kevin Kelly wrote about […]
The National Review and conservative commentators such as Ross Douthat describe the GOP’s Pledge as “bolder” and more align with conservative values than 1994’s Contract with America. Yesterday, in critiquing […]
Busy weekend (well, mostly grading, but that does eat time like you wouldn’t believe), so here are some quick hits from the news file: Busy Indonesia: As people begin to […]
On this rainy Monday morning … Let’s hop in the Wayback Machine and head to the year 2009. Back in May of that year, we spent a lot of time […]
“The United Nations has appointed Earth’s ambassador should aliens touch down in the near future. Their selection? Malaysian astrophysicist Mazlan Othman.”
“Forget wind power or conventional solar power, the world’s energy needs could be met 100 billion times over using a satellite to harness the solar wind and beam the energy to Earth.”
“An ABC News/Yahoo News poll revealed that today, only half of us think the American dream—which the pollsters defined as ‘if you work hard you’ll get ahead’—still holds true.”
In last week’s cover story at New York magazine on the forthcoming Facebook biopic “The Social Network,” the film’s screenwriter Aaron Sorkin offers his pessimism about the nature and impact […]
In 1994, as part of their successful gambit to gain control of the House, Newt Gingrich and other GOP leaders issued the “Contract with America,” a promise to pass eight […]
Three days ago, I predicted here that Ed Miliband would be elected leader of the UK Labour Party. He was, and on the narrowest of margins. Ed Miliband is of […]
Who will be the Republican candidate for president in 2012? Sarah Palin recently said after a trip to Iowa that she would run “if nobody else stepped up” with solutions […]
“In sending troops into Somalia, the Ugandan president is doing Washington’s bidding and endangering his country.” England’s The Guardian assesses U.S. foreign policy.
“The passive-building standard is only now getting off the ground in the United States—despite years of data suggesting that America’s drafty building methods are wasteful.”