Guest Thinkers

The intelligent design community has responded to my confession of ignorance.  They say that “intelligent design” is the God of the physicists and the philosophers, what, in fact, we can know by nature.  We […]

–Guest post by Patrick Riley, AoE Culture Correspondent The recent Ancestral Health Symposium at UCLA, which I guest posted about here, wasn’t just about eating like a caveman. It was about […]

Einstein “finally concluded that time travel might be inherent in his equations,” but dismissed the notion “on physical grounds.”

Details are important, often crucial. But focus exclusively on the details, without taking a step back, and you run the risk of getting lost in minutiae – and more likely […]

The release last week of a sonar scan showing an anomalous formation on the bottom of the Gulf of Bothnia between Sweden and Finland set off a storm of wild […]

To be fair, Dan Savage wasn’t talking to me. I was just listening in on this fight he’s having with some people he calls the “monogamusts.” I think a monogamust […]

Not surprisingly, the publishing industry is full of bibliophiles who love the body of the printed book almost as much as its soul.  Rick Richter, the founder and president of Ruckus Mobile Media, is the rare exception.  

Common wisdom, even among ‘experts’, is often shaped by unconscious peer influence. This effect may explain why world economic leaders at Davos 2008 failed to predict the financial crisis and meltdown that followed later that year. 

Last week’s job report was better than expected, but it wasn’t good. With growth over the last year just 1.6% and unemployment still over 9%, it’s increasingly clear that the […]

Driven, achievement-oriented people are often particularly cautious about trying something new. At the same time, complacency is a sure-fire recipe for personal and professional atrophy; if we’re not moving forward, we’re regressing. 

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology say that even the most recent climate change reports fail to capture the reality of the changing Arctic landscape. 

Well, this week at the SERC Teaching Mineralogy, Petrology and Geochemistry Workshop has been busier than I thought (and yes, there was a Red Sox game mixed in), so not […]

The current generation of toddlers is embracing digital technology at an astounding pace. According to a recent survey from BlogHer/Parenting, nearly 25% of toddlers will have used a smartphone by […]

Homelessness in America is hard to picture for those of us who haven’t experienced it. Statistics on homelessness, like the definitions of the term, vary, but some estimate that 3.5 […]

–Guest post by Patrick Riley, AoE Culture Correspondent If you accept the notion that no one knows what to eat these days since they’re bombarded with conflicting nutritional advice at every […]

There’s nothing new about historical or literary references – artists have always used history as compost – but the pacing and logic of allusion these days feels somehow fundamentally different. The work of Singer-Songwriter-Novelist Josh Ritter exemplifies this shift.   

              Four year-old Khafra was near death three days ago when he was brought to the refugee camp hospital. He was emaciated, his ribs showing through his taut dry […]

Is it true that deep, sustained reading is an experience only a small minority of people “naturally” enjoy? And if so, does it follow that since “some current college students […]

Wes Hickman of American University media relations put together an excellent news release on the study of America’s peak oil perceptions discussed last week.  Text of the release is below. […]

Here you can read the reaction of “the intelligent design community” to a recent article of mine.  This post, of course, is double-down shameless self-promotion, because it includes both praise of […]

For the Notehall founders note sharing paid off quite well. In June their start-up got acquired by textbook rental juggernaut Chegg for an undisclosed amount in cash and stock. Notehall […]

Employers may punish women who are obese with lower wages, but not all women are paying a penalty. Single women who are obese earn higher wages because they invest more […]

It is the thirtieth anniversary of the Toxteth riots in what was better known then as the Liverpool 8 district. I remember the shocking scenes, as a corner of that […]

Researchers are probing the impact of social networks on kids. Early findings suggest FB use is associated with narcissistic behavior but can increase ‘viral’ empathy.

Friday, for the first time, Standard & Poor’s lowered its evaluation of the U.S. government’s credit rating, downgrading it from AAA to AA+. According to S&P’s rating system, that means […]

Which would you rather have: an apple or a Kit-Kat bar? It’s not an easy question. The answer depends on many factors, including how hungry you are, how much you […]

Public universities — especially elite research universities — are struggling.  State legislatures typically set their in-state tuition rates and the portion of tuition that goes back to the university.  In […]

I just pictured Dr. No standing before his fleet of snap-together drone planes cackling about how James Bond will never stop his unmanned aerial assault on Washington D. C.

This winter, John Berryman will have been dead for forty years. That figure strikes me as strange; in many ways Berryman’s poetic voice still sounds like that of a fearless […]

Amidst all of the market babble and financial gobbledegook that poured from both ‘analysts’ and ‘practitioners’ following last week’s global market meltdown, came a shaft of light. It took the […]