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Sebastian Junger takes a big-picture look at depression, PTSD, and the importance of the tribe in his new book.

Recent studies have found that humans can feel concern over a robot if they think that it is in pain. This indicates that we can feel as much empathy for a mechanical person as a biological one.

At its hottest, the closest world to the Sun reaches up to 800º Fahrenheit. But another has it beat. “There is no question that climate change is happening; the only arguable […]

You may not have heard, but agriculture is about to undergo a truly organic revolution. Indigo is one of many agriculture businesses that's researching how microbes can help increase crop yields even as our climate changes.

And what would that mean if it were one? “It is in the theory of perception that we have established our bond, or the lie I should say, for which we […]

Cepheids are the hottest, brightest variable stars of all. When they’re surrounded by gas, a spectacular light-echo can follow. “What is history? An echo of the past in the future; […]

Geology rocks! “Nobility, without virtue, is a fine setting without a gem.” –Jane Porter There are plenty of people out there who’ll give you a rundown of what your birthstone […]

Twenty-one strangers with different values and views, thrown together on a Grand Canyon rafting trip, managed to set aside those differences and build community.

The late-night host's departure from television is yet another reminder that our media consumption is changing.

The intensity of sports rivalry is justified if it helps us develop morally praiseworthy attitudes that transfer from the sporting arena into real life.

When researchers presented canines with odors of other dogs, food, and their human masters, it was the scent of humans that excited dogs the most.

Ian Fleming picked James Bond for the name of his hero because it was “brief, unromantic and yet very masculine”; he later became friends with the original James Bond, author of one of his favourite ornithology guides. 

Nobody goes to a baseball game to watch the umpires, so why would someone go to a museum to see an exhibition dedicated to an art critic—one of those arbiters […]

Embrace change.  Embrace what that future is.  Don't fear it because that's your biggest upside. 

Like a greyhound race, politics is a competition. And as the rabbit keeps moving ahead, the greyhounds are incentivized to keep chasing. Consistency bias is simply the failure to admit that's what we're doing. 

If you had never heard of global warming before, how would you figure out whether it’s happening? “There is no question that climate change is happening; the only arguable point […]

The benefits of tourism in New York City (or any city) are not only financial. Tourists are anti-beacons: wherever they flock, residents like me immediately know where not to go. […]

Kids do the darnedest things. For instance, one time late at night, when I was 9 or 10, I opened the drawer in the kitchen, took out the biggest knife, […]

Swamped this week. Here’s a post originally published on my personal blog to fill the void.  Like many features of the human condition, the first psychological account of disgust comes […]

Warning: a Scott Walker victory in the Wisconsin gubernatorial recall election may finally inspire the rest of the Democratic Party to start acting like they really want to keep Barack […]

The first thing that came to mind when I finished Predator Nation, the book by Charles Ferguson that explains how Wall Street’s elite brazenly commit financial crimes out in the […]

Interview with Jason Silva by Frank Rose One afternoon recently I spent a couple of hours with Jason Silva, the longtime Current TV host who’s been making much-talked-about micro-videos about the […]

A new tour at the Museum of Modern Art in New York has many seeing red over “seeing” Reds in the collection. As reported in Art News, Artist Yevgeniy Fiks’ […]

A man and woman have been married for over a decade. The wife seems happy, and she feels happy, or happy enough, in her marriage. The husband seems happy. He […]

The term “business model” is often bandied about in the mainstream media as a way of capturing the essence of how a company makes money. To keep things simple for […]

Researchers have made strides in understanding the human mind, filling the hole left by the atrophy of theology and philosophy, says David Brooks at The New Yorker.

In a fall 2007 bond proposal, incoming Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Lt. Gov. David Paterson are hoping to sell voters on spending up to $2 billion over 10 years to […]

Despite our puritanical roots, Americans are just as sexually liberated as Europeans, if not more so, according to recent studies. Americans tend to lose their virginity at the same age […]

This semester in the sophomore-level course I teach on “Communication and Society,” we spent several weeks examining the many ways that individuals and groups are using the internet to alter […]

This semester in the sophomore-level course I teach on “Communication and Society,” we spent several weeks examining the many ways that Americans are using the Internet to alter the nature […]