I’m back! As you may know, I’ve spent the last three days in Springfield, Missouri, having a blast at Skepticon IV. The convention was a weekend of great talks that […]
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Researchers have found a way to shrink the size of the medical lab to the size of a microchip, using advances from nanotechnology to pave the way for radically new […]
Clinical trials show marijuana might be useful for pain, nausea and weight loss in cancer and HIV/AIDS and for muscle spasms in multiple sclerosis. But research funding is sparse.
My previous post quoted Peter Hitchens, the conservative Christian brother of the late Christopher Hitchens, to criticize some of his views on divine command morality. To my surprise, it drew […]
While walking in Fairmount Park in 1872 with his minister father, 12-year-old Henry Ossawa Tanner saw a man painting and became curious about art. His family fed that curiosity, which […]
The genetic mutation that drives evolution is random. But here’s a list of some beneficial mutations that are known to exist in human beings
If you’re in the north of England and you’re in a town ending in -by, you’re in former Danish-ruled territory [1]. If the toponym starts with beau- or bel-, it […]
If you know the name of artist Chris Burden, you probably think pain: shooting, electrocution, and even crucifixion. Although Burden ended his agonizing exploits over 35 years ago, those performance […]
We become high achievers by working on something important—all the while procrastinating doing something even more important.
I recently participated in a “relationship summit” on break ups. I don’t know how wise or helpful I was. When it comes to break-up and heartache recovery, I’m not sure […]
This paper, published online yesterday in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, introduces a new term to neuroscience: The FBN, or “Facebook number.” Your Facebook number is, of course, […]
When you think of Burberry, do you think of prim and proper English models wearing plaid coats or do you think of beautiful exotic scantily clad holographic models walking on […]
Just when you think a contemporary art megastar such as Damien Hirst has done his worst to make a mockery of the modern art world, he finds a new weapon […]
My last post, following the lead of David Brooks and Rod Dreher, was about giving the argument for “communitarian conservatism” in the context of Dreher’s decision to move back to […]
{EAV:e47b9f8ac33e6b9b}Last summer I was invited to President Obama’s Twitter Townhall at the White House along with 139 other characters. Despite the grandiose setting and President Obama opening the event with […]
Powerful design tools and techniques such as 3-D printing will enable manufacturers to be more nimble, creating flexible strategies that deliver more customized products.
Economic growth is a tough thing to control if the tools you’re using only deal with one part of the economy. The problem is that when you push on one […]
Warning, the four minutes you will spend reading this blog post may be hazardous to your marriage.Or so you might think. New research out of the Netherlands examines the relationship […]
If past trends are any guide, this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature will go to a post-postmodern Francophone novelist from a forgotten duchy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. And yet partisans […]
Recently, while working on a piece about memory and smell, I came upon a concept that I’d never before heard about: blind smell. I’d read often enough about blindsight, the […]
Over the past few days a “scandal” has emerged from a leaked email regarding AirBnB’s new round of financing. Potential investor Chamath Palihapitiya (former head of growth at Facebook and now […]
Jay Cost, one of our best politcal bloggers, told us at Berry College a few weeks ago that what’s wrong with the current system used by our political parties to […]
Doug Melton, of Harvard’s Stem Cell Institute, speaks of a new era of medicine in his Floating University lecture. Medicine will no longer aim to simply fix you if you have a disease or injury, but replenish you in order to maintain your young and vibrant state.
Nobel prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman, author of the new book Thinking, Fast and Slow, knows more than most about how people make decisions. And we often make them badly. As a rule, Kahneman would advise people to slow down their decision-making whenever possible.
Do a quick online search for the term “What causes divorce” and you will be greeted with a myriad of sites claiming to have the answer. A popular claim is […]
In the annals of human hatred, there’s a special place for those who play the same game we do—the ones who are on to our tricks and whose mirror tactics […]
Companies need formalized processes for people with ideas to get to people with the influence to move on them, so the best new ideas actually reach those who can exploit them.
This trans-African colony could have rivalled Brazil for dominance of the Portuguese-speaking world.
“All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up,” says washed-up silent film star Norma Desmond in the final scene of Billy Wilder’s unforgettable 1950 film Sunset Boulevard. Gloria Swanson […]
–Guest post by Declan Fahy, American University. The interactive horror-themed websites Hotel626.com and Asylum626.com are the cornerstones of a complaint filed last week by a coalition of four consumer and […]