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We Need a “Slow Domesticity” Movement
“Life,” my brother-in-law tells me, “is 90 percent maintenance.” I’ve no complaints about my husband’s chore contribution in our marriage. Our “dreariness index” as I call it seems fair enough. […]
Big Government Is Bad for Democracy
Notre Dame philosopher Gary Gutting examines the extent to which the American system of government is democratic. Drawing on Plato’s five kinds of government–aristocracy, timarchy, oligarchy, democracy, and tyranny (we […]
Cancer Vaccines Show Promise
A new experimental cancer vaccine that targets the immune system has shown some early progress in improving survival in women with metastatic breast or ovarian cancer.
Hilarious GOP Debates Revive Obama Reelection Chances
The Republican presidential debates have accomplished the impossible. President Obama, despite the terrible economy, now looks like a strong contender for re-election. This year’s Republican debates have all the essential […]
First-Ever Artificial Blood Transfusion
After a French doctor extracted stem cells from a patient's bone marrow to create blood artificially, the cells were pumped into the patient's body for a successful transfusion.
Lewis on Kahneman: The Merits of Intellectual Self-Torture
“As a man is,” wrote William Blake, “so he sees. As the eye is formed, such are its powers.” No doubt my tumultuous childhood is a part of the reason […]
Weight-Loss Breakthrough
A drug born of a revolutionary approach to cancer treatment causes rapid weight loss and improved metabolic function in monkeys, scientists have found.
Weekend Coffee: November 12
Here’s some miscellany to accompany your morning coffee: • 70 major U.S. corporations and civic organizations call for DOMA to be struck down in a friend-of-the-court brief supporting a federal […]
What’s Your Number?
Your whole life, reduced to a single number. That’s the goal of an increasing number of companies that are attempting to analyze specific aspects of your life and quantify certain […]
The Downside of Loyalty, from Afghanistan to Pennsylvania
Whatever the facts of the crimes in this week’s pair of institutional scandals (and it bears saying that trials in the Afghanistan “kill team” case are ongoing, while Jerry Sandusky […]
Fun with Math: 111111 x 111111 = ?
Math Problem for Today: 111111 X 111111 = ? Follow Daniel Honan on Twitter @DanielHonan
How Safe is the Taj Mahal?
This post was written by Preetika Rana and originally published on the Wall Street Journal blog India Real Time. Recent claims that the Taj Mahal is in danger of collapsing […]
Creative Destruction: Peter Thum’s Fonderie 47
A new venture aims to foster stability in war-torn regions through an act of creative destruction: acquiring AK-47s and transforming them into rare jewelry, watches and accessories.
Explaining Penn State’s Leadership Disaster
At Pennsylvania State University, morality has taken a back seat to football glory. How could academic leadership have failed so spectacularly in the face of overtly reprehensible behavior?
Dick and Jane and Vampires: Francesco Sedita Gets Out of the Way
Grosset & Dunlap/Price Stern Sloan President and Publisher Francesco Sedita had a meeting with his entire team of editors, art directors and designers recently. The subject? A mustache. “We’ve been […]
Can an Atheist Be a Unitarian Universalist? (Part 2)
In my previous post, I quoted the letter I wrote to John Buehrens, Unitarian Universalist minister, to ask if he stood behind the anti-atheist denunciations in his book A Chosen […]
Is My Redundant Kidney a Natural Resource?
As I’ve told you before, we’re having this big conference at Berry College funded by the Science of Virtues Project at the University of Chicago on November 17-18. We’re going […]
The Rise of Adaptive Learning
In today’s article I would like to share a video of my old friend Jon Bischke who recently gave a talk on TEDxManhattanBeach about his thoughts on combining the Learning […]
The Freakonomics of Marriage, or, A Tale of Two Non-Marrying Cities
The multi-million dollar estates of the stars in Beverly Hills and the “abandominiums” of impoverished neighborhoods in rustbelt cities such as my own of Baltimore have something in common: they’re […]
Anti-Atheist Prejudice at the Polls
Why do American voters remain prejudiced against atheists, especially when groups like Mormons hold beliefs that are equally incompatible with mainstream Christianity?
Re-examining Significant Research: The Problem of False-Positives
It is remarkably easy to report false-positive findings, or results that support an effect that, in reality, does not (or may not) exist.
The Devil in the Mural: Jerry Sandunsky, Penn State, and Giotto
Of all the surreal moments in the Penn State sex scandal surrounding the actions of former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, the most surreal for me was watching on a […]
Japan Displays Amazing Avatar
The Telesar V Robot Avatar delivers touch, audio and sight data to its human operator from a remote location using a series of sensors and a 3-D head-mounted display.
Controversy Thy Name Is Cain
Whether you see him as Herman Cain, The Herminator, or Herman the Horrible—any way you slice it, the Cain Controversy owns the GOP presidential nominee narrative for the foreseeable future.
The political economy of puppetry
Joe Therrien, an OWS activist and semi-employed drama teacher, has become infamous since the Nation included him in an article on “The Audacity of Occupy Wall Street,” which began like […]
Five Years Until Irreversible Climate Change
The International Energy Agency, known for its typically conservative estimates when it comes to climate change, has produced a disturbingly gloomy report on the future of the planet.
Will The 99 Percent Occupy 2012 Elections?
While I voted yesterday, I thought about the Occupy movement. As I cast a “yes” ballot for the right to buy alcoholic beverages on Sundays at package shops in John’s […]
America’s Plan to Drill for Oil in the Arctic
Under a new energy proposal from the Obama administration, the Atlantic and Pacific coasts would remain off-limits to further oil drilling schemes but the Arctic would be opened up.
WARNING!!! Health Warnings May be Hazardous to Your Health!!!
Will the people sounding dramatic warnings about the latest risk-du-jour ever realize that in some cases the fear they cause may well do more harm than whatever it is they’re […]
How Much Money Is Enough?
"There’s always an opportunity to give money, if that’s an option," says Mary Ellen Iskenderian. "But giving money is just not sufficient."