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A conversation with the professor of English and visual arts at the University of Chicago.
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39 min
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His fellow physicist Steven Weinberg says the Nobel committee has “fleeced” Freeman Dyson. But Dyson prefers the infamy of never having won.
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1 min
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When the physicist expressed reservations about climate change, he stirred heated controversy. “It doesn’t disturb me at all,” he says.
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4 min
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“We don’t only have to worry about warming,” the physicist argues. “It could very well be the climate gets colder. Nobody knows”—and we waste time arguing when we should be […]
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3 min
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Last week, Obama signed an ambitious nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia. So why does the “Weapons and Hope” author fear that George Bush, Sr. will go down in history […]
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5 min
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Freeman Dyson never spoke to Einstein, but revered him from afar. He was a “totally exceptional person”—as was another colleague, Nobelist and “clown” Richard Feynman.
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4 min
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The sheer unpredictability of atoms exempts them from ordinary rules of causality. The brain may be a “clever device” that turns that freedom into freedom of action.
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4 min
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Why looking for extraterrestrial life gets more and more efficient—and less and less expensive—each year.
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1 min
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With NASA’s future in doubt, the physicist recalls designing an ingenious (and sadly, radioactive) rocket that could have had us “scooting all around the solar system” 50 years ago. Will […]
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6 min
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Freeman Dyson recalls the excitement of contributing a missing puzzle piece to the study of atomic science.
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4 min
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From WWI chemical warfare to nuclear weapons, Freeman Dyson thinks misguided science was “quite rightly” blamed for many 20th-century atrocities. What dangers could it pose for the future?
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5 min
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Freeman Dyson fell in love with math, science, and nature as a child. Later, as a statistician in World War II, he had a “front-row seat view” of mass tragedy.
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3 min
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A conversation with the physicist and writer.
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39 min
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When designers volley designs back and forth in a battle of one-upmanship, the result is an esoteric, but fun, digital-age sport.
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3 min
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Khoi Vinh connects the early childhood disruption he experienced as an immigrant from Vietnam with his fastidious style as a designer.
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2 min
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The NYTimes.com designer talks favorite fonts and websites.
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4 min
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Khoi Vinh hates websites on which everything is “rendered to within an inch of its life.” Do we really need to see the little rivets on the mailbox icon?
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4 min
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Technology has both democratized design and made user response central to designers’ choices. At the same time, says Khoi Vinh, “true expertise is as rare as ever.”
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7 min
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As online media outlets compete furiously for eyeballs, the NYTimes.com design director discusses features that have, and haven’t, worked for the website.
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5 min
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Print editions of newspapers remain “canonical.” But anticipating, and accommodating, user behavior is the unique challenge of the Web.
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6 min
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The NYTimes.com designer strives for “a maximum of elegance with a minimum of ornamentation.” He also tries to think outside the grids that first made his style famous.
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4 min
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A conversation with the blogger and design director of the New York Times website.
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33 min
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“This being so afraid about competitiveness, I have never understood. Even as a Prime Minister, unless you have products or services to sell to others outside your own country, then […]
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2 min
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Skeptics of global warming present the same issue as tobacco companies who misbehaved, lied to Congress and undermined public health efforts.
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2 min
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Wealthy countries have to pay for part of their debt to the planet by helping developing countries have a chance for sustainability.
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3 min
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Becoming a New York sightseeing guide is harder than passing the bar. Having met the challenge, Jacob Appel describes his favorite sight in the city.
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2 min
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Don’t write stories about “ordinary people who think in ordinary ways,” and don’t spoon-feed your readers answers to moral dilemmas.
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3 min
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Discouraged writers, take heart! Jacob Appel has been turned down by nearly every publication in existence—and has the records to prove it. So what keeps him plugging away?
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5 min
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“A pharmacist in Alaska can look at the records of his daughter’s fiancée in Florida…and there’s no way the system right now can track that down.” What’s the solution?
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3 min
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In vitro babies should be pre-screened for severe birth defects, argues Jacob Appel. If this creates a slippery slope, parents can find “level places on it” (and maybe save money […]
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3 min
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