bigthinkeditor

“Distrust of big pharma is stifling research into the real problem of female sexual dysfunction.” Suzi Godson says further research stands to benefit millions of women.

Harvard economics professor Martin Feldstein says the U.S. dollar will remain a strong reserve currency, but that our national debt makes the Euro a competitive alternative.

“A new study recently published in the journal Psychological Science suggests that we should all stop smirking and start rubbing our rabbit’s foot.”

University of Texas researches want to use tiny solar cells as vehicles to deliver treatment to cancer patients, more targeted treatment than is possible with chemotherapy.

Blogging has changed the art of non-fiction writing, says Andrew Sullivan, one of the first political commentators to embrace the form in 2000. When you blog “everything you write is […]

“Panic among policymakers about the high level of government debt is misplaced. The real economic menace is budget-slashing,” say two economists for The Guardian.

The artist Martin Creed is performing a rock gig tonight, and a soundscape is a contender for Britain’s infamous Turner prize. The Independent on where art and music collide.

The dispute created by the Obama administration’s challenge to China over subsidies given to its renewable energy industries can be avoided with clear rules.

“Physicians say presentations they make are educational, but critics say the practice puts financial rewards ahead of patient care.” The L.A. Times on doctors who moonlight as drug reps.

“Can the innovative ‘do-it-yourself’ education movement really replace the dying university model?” Alan Jacobs says universities are decadent outposts in austere times.

“The emotional roller coaster captured on Twitter can predict the ups and downs of the stock market, a new study finds.” Wired Science on the unexpected correlation.

Princeton professor of bioethics Peter Singer says emotional and rational evaluations of ethical dilemmas are distinct and that they produce different outcomes.

“If you are green or broke, as many people are these days, buying seems wasteful.” The Economist says people are growing impatient with ‘idle capacity’, i.e. waste.

“Genetically engineering crops and trees could enhance the process of carbon sequestration, trapping gigatons of the greenhouse gas as well as increasing bioenergy production.”

“Why does a melancholy mood turn us into a better artist? The answer returns us to the intertwined nature of emotion and cognition.” The Frontal Cortex on creativity.

Ever since he came out to the public in February 2007, former NBA player John Amaechi says he has been “that big gay guy.” But there is much more to […]

Scientific innovation is desperately needed to solve our most pressing problems but how scientists get money for their research stifles, rather than spurs, creativity.

“Mental tenacity — and the ability to manage and even thrive on and push through pain — is a key segregator between the mortals and immortals in running.”

“It is easy to talk about great ideas as if they were light-bulb moments, sudden epiphanies where everything comes together at once…but that’s rarely how it works.”

George Monbiot says financial crisis cuts in the U.K. are being used to “reshape the economy in the interests of business – and to trash the public sector.”

“WikiLeaks isn’t the problem. It’s reams of unnecessarily classified documents that remain hidden from the public eye by overzealous intelligence officials.”

“Developing nations need much stronger incentives to regard their biodiversity as wealth to be preserved, rather than a resource to be processed in the pursuit of growth.”

Joanna Weiss on Meg Whitman being called a whore: “You have to have been living in a 1940s movie not to know that the word is now applied in a gender-neutral way.”

Lucid dreaming — the premise for Hollywood blockbuster Inception — is real and becoming more common, experts believe.

On the impact of the increased cost of health labor John C. Goodman predicts: “Huge labor market upheaval and high unemployment, looking indefinitely into the future.”

Karl Rove says the presidential campaign will focus on two broad issues: the way somebody governs and the way in which they act; their persona and their agenda.

While in many parts of the world today women enjoy greater power and opportunity than ever before, there are also places where women remain essentially powerless, lacking access to even basic education or human rights.

Alfred Hitchcock once said, “A woman who spends all day washing and cooking and ironing doesn’t want to go to the movies to watch a film about a woman who […]

“Can we envision a world without God? Would this world be good?” Dutch primatologist and ethologist Frans de Waal says we are no different from apes when it comes to altruism.

“Organized religion’s increasing identification with conservative politics is a turnoff to more and more young adults. Evangelical Protestantism has been hit hard by this development.”