When I read the news that the Bamiyan Buddhas, the giant 6th century statues in Afghanistan destroyed by the Taliban in March 2001, would not be rebuilt, I had mixed […]
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By Chris Arkenberg In what amounts to a fairly shocking reminder of how quickly our technologies are advancing and how deeply our lives are being woven with networked computation, security […]
Remember that guy in the Truman Show who pretends to be the protagonist’s best buddy [1]? Who takes him out for a few brewskis on the beach when Truman starts […]
For many Americans, burgers and fireworks may be enough of a July 4th celebration. But to appreciate the curiosities and meaning of Independence Day, you might want to sit down […]
We expect works of art to enlighten us, and we expect science to enlighten us — yet the two fields are frequently regarded as separate, distinct entities which we respond to using different areas of the brain. Are those distinctions are arbitrary?
There are many ways to look at Europe other than as a collection of nation-states. Plenty of other imagined communities lurk beneath the surface of the standard political map. Check […]
“Philosopher” is one of those job descriptions in America that brings inevitable jokes about unemployability. Carlin Romano’s new book, America the Philosophical, aims at transforming the Rodney Dangerfield of academic […]
Given the unequivocal success of NASA’s planet hunting mission, which has found 750 planets outside our solar system, an Earth-like planet will surely be found soon, say astronomers.
The future is mysterious, but not entirely. It is tangible in the promises that a person makes and in the unspoken responsibility one has to others. However much a person […]
Scandinavia is ground zero for heavy metal, but the genre crops up in less obvious places as well…
One of the things that most struck me at the Netroots Nation conference last week was how surprisingly little of a presence the Obama reelection campaign had there. (Michelle Goldberg […]
A team of physicists from Tel Aviv University says that faster-than-light neutrinos would violate the principle of the conservation of energy in addition to Einstein’s special relativity.
Scientists have made the most accurate measurements yet of how quickly our Universe is expanding. Since gravitational pull gave way to dark energy, the rate is increasing.
Hello readers. I’ve been on vacation for the last several days. Here’s an old post from my previous blog WhyWeReason.com to fill the void. It’s about a paper by the NYU […]
With Willard Mitt Romney, American politics has moved beyond the predictable Newtonian rules of campaigning, into the bewildering and unpredictable era of quantum politicking.
NOTE: I recommend you click “View Entire Story”, so the endnotes work. When prostitution cases are brought before a judge in Britain, a particular kind of “John” (or customer) will […]
In a piece about the Barclays traders who colluded to fix the London interbank offered rate (LIBOR), the Economist declared that the LIBOR scandal “could well be global finance’s ‘tobacco moment’….[It is imperative] to change the way […]
Despite dire predictions of the future, brought on quite naturally by the protracted recession, professor Philip Auerswald believes the world is headed for epic prosperity. Here’s why…
The all-knowing device used in the TV program Star Trek has been brought to real life by cognitive scientist Peter Jansen, who equipped the machine with an impressive array of sensors.
How soon until you can roll up your computer screen like a newspaper? Two recent developments will make computer screens and e-reading devices flexible enough to bend.
The nonpartisan yet aggressively reforming mayor of NYC wants to ban sugary drinks of more than 16 ounces from being sold in various public establishments. We Southerners note that the ban would […]
— Guest post by Tina Cipara, George Mason University graduate student. “For the first time in history, the people of the world can see each other and want to protect […]
Using standard chip making parts, IBM has created a super-fast optical processing chip by drilling a series of holes through the back which allow light to pass into the core of the chip.
Recognizing that technology is here to stay, and that how we live online is increasingly how we live, a new kind of theater company in Philadelphia is trying to translate the danger, intimacy, and intensity of offline experience to cyberspace.
The study of brain chemistry is the latest doubt cast over the idea that humans have a free and independent will. Now, thinkers are poking holes in what was once an air-tight case.
A new camera developed at MIT can snap a shot every 0.6 trillionth of a second. That’s fast enough to catch a laser pulse moving through a glass bottle or bouncing off a tomato.
The space telescope has worsened NASA’s relationships with Congress, who felt duped by the exploding cost of the project. Still, the telescope may prove an amazing technical achievement.
Judging by the abundance of “guilty pleasure” TV shows, many people in America seem to feel overly constrained by the norms of public civility. The expectations of reasonableness and respect […]
Strictly speaking, a “psychopundit” is William Saletan’s term for a scholar who uses psychology to explain what’s wrong with people who don’t vote for Democrats or recycle or otherwise agree […]
Researchers have ‘cloaked’ a three-dimensional object, making it completely invisible for the first time. The research on microwave light could carry over into the visible spectrum.