Guest Thinkers

In just a few years, basic microchips will be so cheap they could be built into virtually every product that we buy, creating an invisible intelligent network that’s hidden in our walls, our furniture, and even our clothing.

Do you frequent porn sites? If you do, you’ll be pleased to know that you are a customer of one of the most tech-savvy industries in the world. It’s a […]

Curiosity didn’t kill the cat; it saved the marriage. Curiosity is the single most important trait in finding a good date or life-partner, writes psychologist Paul Dobransky.

A survey of contemporary philosophers’ beliefs was conducted at the world’s top 99 university (analytical) philosophy departments; most are scientists who like Hume, Aristotle and Kant.

Recent books demonstrate how terrorists make rational calculations when deciding whether to join the ranks; understanding their motivations will aid in stopping them.

Bill Gates argues that private enterprise is insufficient to meet our renewable energy goals; public funds are best suited for critical research and development.

The popular notion that Einstein’s first wife, Mileva Marić, contributed significantly to his mathematical theorems lacks fundamental evidence, writes Allen Esterson.

It’s getting to be that time of year. At some point in the next couple of weeks, on a particularly warm and sunny day, I’m going to suddenly find myself […]

“Suck it up, suck it up, suck it up,” is the refrain taught to members of the U.S. Navy. But despite their often-stoic exteriors, soldiers are real people with real […]

Why don’t we see any Tea Party protests on Wall Street? Why don’t we hear any inflamed rhetoric from Tom Tancredo castigating the chairmen of investment banks who are enjoying […]

Anti-whaling countries could issue a number of allowances to countries defying a moratorium on whaling—potentially limiting the total number of whales being slaughtered each year.

It might soon be hard to find a discounted Louis Vuitton bag on eBay, thanks to a ruling made by the European Commission this week.  The new regulations, which come into […]

Imagine how different your life would be if next Earth Day a year from now, you supplied the power to this computer—by pedaling, churning or dancing. The way these students […]

Yesterday, Facebook’s 25 year old co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a plan to socialize the Web. You can now carry around your network of friends wherever you go in Cyberspace. Of course, how much you like the idea depends on if you like your identity and if you like your friends. Do you?

Admit it, skeptics, you were hoping this story was going to be about Uri Geller. I know I was. The Independent reports that Lebanese TV psychic Ali Sibat will not […]

“What if the Eyjafjallajokull ash cloud is “not just a minor volcanic hiccup, but the beginning of an event that causes in time a mass extinction of some form of earthbound life?” asks Simon Winchester.

Women remain much choosier than men when it comes to dating. Is this difference a vestige of our early ancestry? Or could it be the result of something more modern and mundane?

The first job my mother ever held involved plucking hundreds of dandelions by their tenacious little roots from her family’s tiny lawn. Her father had set her to the task, […]

The cover of this month’s issue of Fast Company has an excellent article by Anya Kamenetz on how smart phones are leading the charge in revolutionizing traditional methods of teaching and learning. […]

If you want to rile up a biologist and have no pointed stick handy, try this: Tell her that chemistry or physics are “harder,” more fundamentally “sciencey” sciences than hers. […]

Scientists have used DNA to trace the evolutionary split between head and body lice to 190,000 years ago. They say this may indicate how long humans have been wearing clothing.

It’s the broadcast home of some of the most insipid timewasters on the web. So who would have ever thought that some videos posted on YouTube would ever aid a […]

Here at Mind Matters we strive to be your full-service source of octopus-cognition news. And in my last post on that, I described humans making videos for octopuses. So it’s […]

In a new book, Timothy Ryback examines Adolf Hitler’s private library. He asserts that books were important in shaping the Führer’s life, and looks for insights in the books’ margin notes.

Scientists have found a distinctive kind of breaking wave in the deep sea representing a subtle force that stirs the seabed and helps distribute rare nutrients.

One of the highest-impact lifestyle changes a person can make in the name of environmentalism is to go veggie. It takes – as this blog’s image illustrates – 698 and […]

Felix Salmon writes that executives need “to imagine their companies 30 years down the line, struggling with the deleterious effects of climate change on profitability.”

We love Ian McEwan. We also love when esteemed literary publications surprise us with criticism of a writer so adored. Indeed, whatever one thinks of Solar, the new McEwan novel, […]

If you are up too late, and the TV is on, chances are at some point you will hear the “bom bom bom bom bom” of Law and Order’s iconic […]

Aerosol pollution has sharply declined since the ’80s, but its removal from the air will increase the rate of global warming.