In a new book, two technologists paint a rosy portrait of our future, describing how cutting edge technology could benefit large industry–as long as humans don’t muck it up in the mean time, that is.
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Either there’s an unseen source of mass, or the laws of gravity are wrong. But only one can explain what we see. “The discrepancy between what was expected and what […]
By most scientific accounts, the world’s governments have been too slow to react to climate change. The idea of slowing economic growth to combat carbon emissions has proven too unpalatable.
Which ideas are likely, which ones are speculative, and which ones are pure fiction? “Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think […]
The idea that Alzheimer’s is a form of diabetic disease has been gaining currency in medical circles for almost ten years. The accumulated evidence is now so strong that many […]
Scientific debate is important for the questions it raises, not the early conclusions it reaches. “Even when Darwin’s teaching first made its appearance, it became clear at once that its […]
NEW YORK – If the world is to solve the climate-change crisis, we will need a new approach. Currently, the major powers view climate change as a negotiation over who […]
If you’re considering becoming a freelancer, you need to take stock of your finances and start marketing yourself before making the switch.
How to Reverse Aging Enzymes like Telomerase and Resveratrol, though not the Fountain of Youth unto themselves, offer tantalizing clues to how we might someday soon unravel the aging process. […]
Some kinds of information can be easily deduced from metrics recorded by your home thermostat including what times of day your home is empty and during which hours you are typically asleep.
Nothing in nature works quite like money. Or seems as complex as an economy. I’d welcome counterexamples, but something seems fishy. 1. Here’s the usual big picture: Competitive markets allocate […]
As the economy seems to ask for ever-more productivity, coffee’s limited ability to keep us concentrated have become clearer.
If the industrialized and industrializing nations of the world do not commit to reducing fossil fuel emissions in the coming years, Earth will cross a climate change threshold by 2036.
There’s plenty of gas, dust, planets and rocky bodies out there. Could some combination of them explain dark matter? Image credit: Chris Blake and Sam Moorfield, via http://www.sdss3.org/surveys/boss.php. “When a […]
Statesmen and philosophers have grappled with the question of what it means to live a good life for millennia. The question of what it means to be a good company is certainly newer but perhaps no easier to answer.
If you’re binge-watching through the night, chances are you’re not getting enough sleep. That means you’re probably not nearly as productive or happy as you should be during the day. Take a crash course in story structure and self-control in order to quash your addiction.
Bottling doesn’t necessarily result in a more severe explosion of negative emotion down the line. According to studies which gave participants pillows to punch, actively expressing your anger makes you more aggressive.
Physicists at the University of Cambridge have found a theoretical foundation for the existence of wormholes, which are tubes that connect two different points in space-time.
The New York Supreme Court struck a blow to the oil and gas industry today when it ruled that towns can use zoning ordinances to stop landowners from engaging in hydraulic fracturing, more colloquially known as fracking.
How the demons and angels of our greatest minds advanced science. Image credit: Luis Royo Fantasy Art, via Photobucket user mikenolan78. When most people think of Einstein, they think of […]
General relativity sure does make some counterintuitive predictions. “They say the universe is expanding. That should help with the traffic.”–Steven Wright Each week on Ask Ethan, I take a dive […]
If so, why, and if not, why does it feel that way? “The brighter you are, the more you have to learn.” –Don Herold With the seasons about to turn to […]
In around 540 BC, the world’s most efficient postal service belonged to the Persian Empire. A message could travel at a speed of roughly 200 miles a day. Today, we […]
According to Duolingo founder Luis von Ahn, 800 million poor people around the world are trying to learn English to better themselves and improve their economic conditions. But most language lessons are expensive. His solution: Duolingo, a free app that runs on smartphones and computers.
“[M]aybe decades or millenniums from now — here or someplace yet to be imagined — science on Earth, circa 2014, will look like nothing more than a good start.”
In my post last week I linked to some work by Evan Selinger, a philosopher at the Rochester Institute of Technology who has been thinking hard about the ways seemingly […]
Clean energy. GREEN energy. Energy that can solve global warming. Environmentalists are all for it. And as a direct result, no matter what the benefits, conservatives are absolutely against it. […]
And what are the odds that it’s out there? “Since stars appear to be suns, and suns, according to the common opinion, are bodies that serve to enlighten, warm, and sustain […]
The most common source for radioactive dating depends on our Universe being active. “Life exists in the universe only because the carbon atom possesses certain exceptional properties.” –James Jeans Here on […]
Why do young concertgoers shout their lungs out like they’re auditioning for a slasher flick? It’s partly because screaming is a customary ritual for such an event. It’s also because screaming is a primal form of sociological expression.