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The liner is made out of a special type of cardboard that mimics the layer of spongy cartilage separating the bird’s beak from its skull.

Lower your expectations now. You’ll find yourself much more satisfied by the end.

Recent studies suggest that Americans might be the worst research subjects on the planet. As one writer put it recently, “researchers had been doing the equivalent of studying penguins while believing that they were learning insights applicable to all birds.”     

The gap between invention and implementation is beset by a bias: when in doubt we prefer the status quo, even when solutions to deficiencies are apparent. Is it any wonder […]

Draw two dots above a straight line, place them in a circle, and even children a few years old will spot the semblance with a human countenance. Whether it’s the features […]

When we think of technology’s early adopters, we tend to think of the young hipsters in tech hubs like New York or San Francisco, testing out all the cool new apps, gadgets […]

Ever feel sorry for a sidewalk sparrow with a cigarette butt in its beak? Did you sigh in wistful sadness at seeing nature’s beauty polluted by human industry, which turns […]

The Holocaust is a touchy subject anywhere on earth, but touchiest at the capitol of the country where “The Final Solution” began. Germany and its capitol, Berlin, still struggle with […]

The origin of Valentine’s Day has nothing to do with love and everything to do with “torturous martyrdom.” On second thought, perhaps the origin of Valentine’s Day has a great deal to do with love.

“Ain’t got no rest in my slumbers/ Ain’t got no feelings to bruise/ Ain’t got no telephone numbers/ I ain’t got nothing but the blues,” goes Jazz composer Duke Ellington’s […]

White blood cells called T-cells tend to attack a wider range of invaders than antibodies. If a vaccine sensitizes them to internal flu proteins, they could potentially kill all types of flu.

Songkick, a music promotion site, has added a feature that follows the Kickstarter model to let fans book a tour.

With Big Bird’s surreal moment in the national spotlight, last Wednesday evening marked not only the first Presidential Debate of 2012 but also America’s first national political Kidult moment. 

Residue of second-generation blood thinner-type poisons are increasingly being found in the livers of dead birds and other predator animals.

A new study indicates that, contrary to expectations based on increased awareness and conservation, bird species have been dying out at increased rates since the middle of the 20th century.

What was first, the chicken or the map? That question is perhaps as unanswerable as the one featuring hen vs. egg [1]. Not that it matters. Stare long enough at […]

I’ve never seen an albatross but I’m told the regal bird can glide for hundreds of miles without flapping his wings. On land, however, the large wings drag like “drifting […]

When the new BiblioTech library opens in San Antonio, Texas later this year, it will become the nation’s first “bookless public library” — everything is going to be digital, the library will rent out […]

Question: Which contest is the nec plus ultra for puzzle fans and quiz aficionados everywhere?  Answer: The MIT Mystery Hunt (MMH), which kicks off every year on the Friday before […]

This seemingly endless presidential campaign of 2012 will mercifully come to an end on Tuesday (we hope). People will vote depending on a wide range of economic, social, and ideological […]

One day, I found a press release from an academic journal, calling attention to one of its articles. That is unusual enough, since the kinds of articles that Aaron Swartz–a […]

One of cartography’s most persistent myths: mapmakers of yore, frustrated by the world beyond their ken, marked the blank spaces on their maps with the legend Here be monsters.  It’s […]

It’s just a few weeks until the U.S. presidential election, and while nothing is set in stone, Mitt Romney’s hopes are looking increasingly dim. Despite the depressed economy, which would […]

What’s The Big Idea? Scientists have given animals consciousness. Not through complex manipulation of the brain or through genetic manipulation, but by publicly acknowledging the consensus, for the first time […]

In a mid-career essay about his elder contemporary Robert Frost, the poet W. H. Auden observes that “[Thomas] Hardy, [W. B.] Yeats and Frost have all written epitaphs for themselves.” […]

In animals of reasonable intelligence, a cause-and-effect logic is naturally present. Children, however, lack a concrete understanding of the world which encourages them to persist and learn. 

The team behind the 2008 Beijing Bird’s Nest Olympic stadium are at it again. Herzog & de Meuron joined forces with Ai Weiwei to create this summer’s commissioned installation at the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in […]

A World War II veteran has created a wind turbine that hides its blades inside a drum-like structure so that birds and bats won’t fly into them accidentally.

“Hello China!…… there are just so many of you.” Stefani Germanotta, better known by her Queen-inspired moniker, Lady Gaga, made that appeal to 15,000 screaming teenage Chinese girls in a […]

The discovery of the Higgs boson brought forth a fresh crop of high-minded religious apologists to favor us with platitudes about how science and religion can be reconciled, if only […]