Search Results

The key to making valuable connections involves conveying to others a sense of having truly noticed and listened to them. 

Were it not for the vitamins added to our food, the famously unhealthy American diet would be more difficult to sustain — perhaps forcing us to eat healthier, fresher foods.

Fleeing the Norman Conquest, English émigrés established a now-forgotten New England on the northern shore of the Black Sea.

It’s the only thing separating real knowledge from ignorant misinformation. “The first duty of every Starfleet officer is to the truth, whether it’s scientific truth or historical truth or personal […]

“A second thing that an individual must do in seeking to love his enemy is to discover the element of good in his enemy, and everytime you begin to hate that person and think of hating that person, realize that there is some good there and look at those good points which will over-balance the bad points.”

Before you tout the next exoplanet as “the most Earth-like ever,” ask whether that’s true, and whether that’s even a good thing. “You can spend too much time wondering which […]

OK, smartphone user (yes, we know that most of you, at this very moment, are now peering down onto a rectangular screen), have you ever wasted time on your phone? Of […]

It has become commonplace to see a “worm” based on the reactions of a tiny sample of audience members running across our screens during televised presidential debates. Psychologists tested whether the worm can influence our voting intentions and the results are worrying in the extreme.

Medical professionals say low self-esteem and not feeling “man enough” are driving men’s dogged attempts to achieve a lean and muscular body.

After the CMB, before the first stars, there was nothing to see. Or was there? “[I]f there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we […]

How “faith” in the Universe destroyed two brilliant men of genius. “I don’t like it, and I’m sorry I ever had anything to do with it.” –Schrödinger The idea that […]

Denmark fell seven places on the OECD Better Life Index of overall life satisfaction; plummeting oil prices have made Norwegians jumpy; and Sweden is coping with increased racial polarization.

The most powerful telescope in history will never see the farthest galaxy. “No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded […]

It’s the oldest, most distant light we’ve ever seen. But where, exactly, is it? “We are told to let our light shine, and if it does, we won’t need to […]

What would you do? Imagine you’re a politically conservative, devoutly religious art dealer fleeing your war-torn country when you suddenly see art radically unlike anything you’ve seen before. Do you stay the course or gamble on this next “big thing”? Now add the sudden death of your pregnant young wife, which leaves you with five children under the age of nine whose futures now depend entirely on your choices. Do you roll the dice with your life and theirs? If you’re Paul Durand-Ruel and that artist is Claude Monet, the original Impressionist, you don’t just make that bet; you go “all in” — staking your family’s fortunes to those of a family of revolutionary artists. The exhibition Discovering the Impressionists: Paul Durand-Ruel and the New Painting, currently at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, goes “all in” with Durand-Ruel’s gamble and pays off big with a stirring tale of personal courage and art history in the making.

Amazing, fun and beautiful. So long as the cold doesn’t bother you, anyway. “The only frozen heart around here is yours.” –Anna, to Hans, from Frozen I know that the […]

An interesting point in case are the twin maps of Africa shown here, one of the spread of Islam, the other the spread of AIDS. Beware of the map that is too straightforward and simple.

All you need are clear skies, a telescope, and a plan. Make it a great one. “For my confirmation, I didn’t get a watch and my first pair of long […]

Global Population Boom: Are People the Problem, the Solution, or Both? Professor Joel Cohen first asks and answers the question, “How did humans grow from small populations on the African […]

Journalist Claire Shipman discusses the role authenticity plays in the manifestation and expression of confidence. Shipman is co-author of the 2014 book The Confidence Code.

Live-streamed from Perimeter Institute, & exclusive real-time commentary! “Every generation of physicists solves some old puzzles and finds some new ones.” –Dr. Kendrick Smith I want you to think back […]

How we’re still, only now, just discovering the closest stars to Earth. “As a boy I believed I could make myself invisible. I’m not sure that I ever could, but […]

Why is a psychologist claiming “patent rights” for a basic psychological technique that he did not invent and does not own the patent for?

The word “rational” is widely misapplied. Nobel laureates Kahneman and Becker use it very differently (they’re on opposite sides of a breach with our nature). They illustrate why economists can benefit from a paraphrasing of Shakespeare… though this has method, yet there is madness in it.   

How our own minds work is hard to see. As with almost everything else our views are shaped by the ideas our culture uses. Here are some once-tempting views about why we do what we know we will rue (tales of sin, vice and bad decisions).

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 […]

Einstein’s most famous equation works out more neatly than you’d expect. “It followed from the special theory of relativity that mass and energy are both but different manifestations of the […]

The Consumer Electronics Show is over, but the enduring story of how wearables will be a part of everyday life persists. Just a month ago was the Indiegogo campaign to […]

Occupying a place of higher social status keeps you healthier and more resistant to disease, even without the trappings of wealth and power which we normally associate with status.

Will you explode, freeze, or boil? Advice on how to maximize your life. “A vacuum is a hell of a lot better than some of the stuff that nature replaces […]