Fellow pseudonymous neuroblogger Neuroskeptic(to whom I owe a great deal in inspiration) has published a fantastic piece in Trends in Cognitive Sciences ($) on the benefits to science of anonymity. Last November Neuroskeptic became […]
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I was reading a 1937 essay in which the author made casual mention of the problem of “morganatic marriage.” I’d never heard this term before. I figured it might be […]
Poetry critic and Harvard professor Helen Vendler has published a refreshing article in Harvard magazine, in which she encourages the school to welcome mediocre students who also happen to be great writers. […]
In a new study at the journal BMC Medical Ethics, my colleague Declan Fahy and I analyze the journalistic and critical reception of Rebecca Skloot’s 2010 best-selling book The Immortal Life of […]
Humans experience joy in a multitude of ways, yet the varied forms of suffering—death, divorce, separation—return to one root principle: loss. What drives the fear of loss is something far […]
Ilya Naishuller, a 29-year old Russian director and front man for the Moscow punk band Biting Elbows, won the Internet this week. His band’s latest stunning music video, Motherf*cker, which […]
Almost a year ago I posted a blog post titled ‘A Yale Professor’s One Man Rampage Against PloS, the Internet and a Belgian Research Group‘, covering the case of a […]
Ethan Nadelmann, a leading expert on drug policy, sees evidence that Obama is willing to move in “a somewhat new direction” on drug policy.
A Republican-backed bill will replace the diversity visa lottery, which offers visas to people from countries with low immigration rates to the US, with a program that focuses exclusively on people with advanced STEM degrees.
Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it This is the ponderous epigraph of many a high school history term paper. And it’s wrong. Like as not, we’re “doomed” […]
Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it This is the ponderous epigraph of many a high school history term paper. And it’s wrong. Like as not, we’re “doomed” […]
Currently in public beta, Härnu is a social platform where people around the world can share ideas and hold conversations with the help of Google Translate.
Advertisers, browser manufacturers, privacy advocates, Congress, and government entities are literally tangling with each other over online data-collecting mechanisms.
In 1951, musical composer and overall art theorist John Cage (shown above) stepped into an anechoic chamber at Harvard University. Touted as the quietest place on Earth, the anechoic chamber […]
You know the old Facebook line: relationships are complicated. Paul C. Brunson, the Modern Day Matchmaker, knows that better than anyone else. And his new book, IT’S COMPLICATED (BUT IT […]
It all started with a review. When a reviewer of a 1957 painting exhibition by Jasper Johns compared one of his paintings to a readymade by Marcel Duchamp, Johns and […]
Three years ago, on December 17, 2009, the Obama administration launched its first strike on what it believed to be an AQAP training camp in southern Yemen. Unfortunately, what the […]
As more people derive their income from careers that rely on public exposure, the cachet and economic appeal of simply being a celebrity will decrease.
This week’s all-consuming internet drama was sparked by the journalist Adrien Chen of Gawker, who published a piece exposing the real identity of “Violentacrez”, one of the most infamous trolls […]
Fall is a busy time, school starts and big books you’ve been waiting to read for months finally get published. For myself, and by extension Waq al-waq this fall has […]
Keyboards and mice are about to get some competition from wearable sensors that allow users to control electronics with gestures.
Dear Lover or Mistress: Let’s face it. No one’s making chicken soup for your cheating soul. You’re not well-liked. If you’re a public figure and you get caught, pundits will […]
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 […]
Would you eat a thick, juicy steak? What if it were grown in a lab and printed using new 3D printing techniques originally developed to grow regenerative tissue for medical purposes? Thanks […]
Years ago, when I was a young reporter working for a New England newspaper, I was told, more than once, that our city editor had “the personality of a door […]
Tomorrow is Election Day for all us Americans. And while I normally try to base my arguments on solid evidence, far be it from me to deny everyone the chance […]
RIP Aaron Swartz, you will not be forgotten.
Some progressive Christian bloggers I respect have been writing enthusiastically about a new book, Rachel Held Evans’ A Year of Biblical Womanhood, which they say proves that the Bible has […]
Let’s say you’re just now tuning in to reports that the world will end on December 21 when the Mayan calendar resets to zero. Maybe you’re one of the 35 […]
I write here about the Risk Perception Gap, when we worry too much about smaller risks and not enough about bigger ones. More than just an interesting example of […]