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More than 50 years after the publication of CP Snow’s seminal Two Cultures, interdisciplinary partnerships between science and other academic “cultures” are being urged once again. Today, the focus is […]

Wall Street II features a hedge fund manager. What will he be like? N+1 editor Keith Gessen has published a book,Diary of a Very Bad Year: Confessions of an Anonymous […]

Because of structural changes, crises could now become more frequent, and the most obvious source of danger now is in emerging markets.

When Huang Rui first set up the 798 Space Gallery in 2002, shortly after returning to China after years of exile for his anti-Communist regime art, he knew he could […]

Thanks to the Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s runaway hit, “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” we tend to think of undercover operative agents as not only being uncommonly good looking but […]

Whether out of financial prudence or budgetary necessity, the annual summer vacation has been a “staycation” for millions of families during this recession year. Local attractions have had to do, […]

This idea was suggested by Big Think Delphi Fellow Joseph LeDoux, of the Center for Neural Science and Department of Psychology at NYU. “Blessed are the forgetful: for they get the better […]

Researchers are attempting to “define a second genetic code: one that predicts how segments of messenger RNA transcribed from a given gene can be mixed and matched.”

When pundits like Richard Dawkins use the trust and authority granted them as scientists to denigrate religious publics, is it unethical?On issues such as climate change, nanotechnology, and evolution, research […]

This fall 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 […]

In November 2009, nine researchers from MIT’s prestigious Media Lab were among the eleven authors of a paper* that espoused the value of programming as an essential skill for all.  […]

James Bridle writes that publishers need to look beyond one-size-fits-all definitions of their product, and take a long look at where and how people are reading.

Earlier today, in response to Sheril Kirshenbaum’s query at Discover’s Intersection blog, I spotlighted the key influence of opinion-leaders on energy related behavior.  As a follow up, let’s take a […]

Dr. Jonathan Castro, coauthor of a recent Nature paper on the ascent of magma at Chaiten in Chile, fields questions from Eruptions readers.

Catherine Asaro, the bestselling science-fiction author, uses concepts from physics and math to inform the fantastical stories of her characters. In a recent interview with Big Think, Asaro describes how […]

The Maine Solar System Model recreates the relative distances between the sun and planets along a stretch of U.S. Highway 1

This Monday marked the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma city bombing, an attack which killed 168 people and injured 680 more. As we know now (and as we were reminded […]

It is an event with which I am slightly ashamed—and even the excuse that it happened over twenty years ago and that I was only a bit player does not […]

This week’s NY Times magazine runs a cover story by Nicholas Dawidoff on Freeman Dyson and his doubts about the urgency of climate change. Many critics have decried the article […]

“We want to make architecture that people like to use,” said Kazuyo Sejima, who with partner Ryue Nishizawa won the 2010 Pritzker Architecture Prize yesterday.  “The jury somehow appreciated our […]

Over the summer I addressed by video conference a meeting by the National Academies on state science policy advice. They’ve now produced a report based on that meeting and it […]

“There’s this core of people who have become very, very powerful who can do enormous damage to the rest of society and honestly, they really don’t care,” says Simon Johnson, […]

When attempting to communicate effectively with the public about a science-related debate, which is more important, framing the message or conveying science-based facts about the topic?  A forthcoming study (Word) […]

n n (click on image to enlarge) n The Zeitgeist of the mid ‘fifties probably wasn’t shrinkwrapped in quite so many layers of irony and political correctness as today’s is, […]

Last week I participated in a two-day workshop at NSF on climate change education. The meeting brought together researchers in science education, communication, and informal learning; representatives from government agencies […]

Etna Week continues with Part 2 of guest blogger Dr. Boris Behncke’s look at Mt. Etna, including the unstable flanks, its eruptive behavior over the last 400 years and changes at the summit.

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 […]

 “Every generation is born to this same anatomical legacy; how they then fashion it with clothing is, in miniature, the story of culture,” argues Susan J. Vincent in her sweeping […]

A Chinese oil tanker that has run aground on the Great Barrier Reef is leaking oil and threatening to break up entirely, causing a greater spillage.

I was on Tybee Island earlier this week, sitting in my usual spot on the 17th street crosswalk just after dawn, when a young man carrying an ocean going kayak […]