Guest Thinkers

CONEY ISLAND, BROOKLYN. See more photos from the 2010 Coney Island Mermaid Parade. The Mermaid Parade marks the beginning of summer in Brooklyn. The most popular theme for costumes and […]

The blithe feathers of our nation’s patrimony are now literally weighed down by oil, but our government and press already exude the sticky toxins of petroleum. In a sense, petroleum […]

Two days ago the streets of the capital of Sri Lanka, Colombo, played host to a thundering parade of military hardware, as the Government of President Mahindra Rajapaksa celebrated the […]

Following the entry of “happiness studies” into psychology through the last two decades, some are now asking if being perpetually elated is truly good for your health.

“What happens to our civic life when we’re all too scared to participate?” asks Slate. Expert witnesses have recently refused to testify in court, fearing reprisal for divulging their political views.

As summer is upon us, what does psychological research tell us about how we spend our leisure time? The answers could provide for a more enjoyable vacation in the coming months.

Walking through the Late Renoirexhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art recently, I couldn’t help but be struck by the power of Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s paintings of his three sons—Pierre, Jean, […]

Personally, I remember back in the 1970s when string theory fell out of favor. At the time, it was very difficult to get a job and many people dismissed the […]

On Thursday, Republicans blocked an attempt to lift the liability cap for oil companies for the fourth time. Although BP has agreed to establish a $20 billion fund to pay […]

We imagine spying in terms of cutting edge technology and clandestine intrigue, but a lot of important intelligence work involves more mundane strategies like reading newspapers. In recent years, cash-strapped […]

I spend a lot of time on my laptop. Too much time? Don’t know, don’t care. C’est la vie (moderne), etc. But what does irk me is that I’m stuck […]

When Facebook’s privacy woes hit the webosphere, people quickly fell into two camps: those who believed that we now “live in public” and should accept it, and those who were […]

“Fog in Channel, Continent isolated” is one of the better remembered British newspaper front page headlines, but as the new Coalition Government here in London takes its swingeing axe to […]

The New Yorker was my introduction to contemporary literary fiction years ago when I was a pre-teenager looking for something outside of the confines of my small town public library. […]

In the wake of Arizona’s controversial law empowering police to stop and detain anyone suspected of being in the country illegally, Arizona Republicans are working on legislation that would deny […]

“I think I’m beginning to know something about painting,” Pierre-Auguste Renoir said on the day he died as he turned away from a still life he’d been working on and […]

There’s nothing you can do that can’t be done. Nothing you can sing that can’t be sung. Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game. […]

Erik Rasmussen, founder of the Copenhagen Climate Council, doesn’t try to pretend that COP 15 was anything but a failure. The talks concluded without a global climate treaty, and Rasmussen […]

Last year, betacup extended a challenge to the creative community to rethink the coffee cup from a sustainable angle that eliminates the 58 million disposable cups America tosses in the […]

‘Student athletes’ are now quasi-mercenaries, performing to boost schools’ bottom lines, argues James O’Toole, who calls for moral leadership from the top institutions.

With the Ronnie Lee Gardner execution making news, Margot Sanger-Katz finds the (limited) research suggesting that the firing squad is actually a pretty good way to go.

“Some good may have come out of the astonishing ice loss (in 2007),…the Arctic science community came together to try a new approach to climate science,” writes Alexis Madrigal.

“(Richard) Dawkins and co. are appalled by the belief in God, (Christopher) Hitchens is far more appalled by the idea that anyone would want to obey Him,” observes Ross Douthat.

“When you need to have a meeting, have a meeting…The rest of the time, do the work wherever you like.” Seth Godin lists the reasons that the office is (nearly) dead.

Two days ago, San Francisco mandated that all cell phones bear a new label: amount of radiation emitted. A sort of calorie-labeling for health-conscious tech consumers. The science is arguably […]

Over the past few years, bike-sharing systems have gained popularity around the world, experimenting with different models of building a sustainable mode of alternative transportation – from the ad-supported models […]

Last week, I wrote that Sen. Harry Reid’s (D-NV) opponent, Sharron Angle, would have a hard time appealing to moderate voters.  Her views are so far out of the mainstream—at […]

Lesley Stahl’s interview with Tara Parker-Pope on www.wowowow.com considers the myriad variations on a “good marriage;” what it means for a couple to argue well; and how we might all […]

“Copenhagen’s failure to deliver a single universal deal opens up space for smaller regionally based deals,” says the former U.K. science advisor who is optimistic about climate change solutions.

I have railed against some of the shortcomings during the BP oil well blowout with great vigor during the past few weeks. I wanted to know why we weren’t getting […]