Guest Thinkers — August 16, 2010

A Look Back at Dan Quayle 1988

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

When you pick as a VP candidate someone who is inexperienced and unfamiliar with national politics, you don’t know what you are going to get. Above, a look back at Dan Quayle’s VP announcement speech in 1988 and then subsequent campaign gaffes.

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

A collection of hard-to-finish books on a pink background.

High Culture

7 great but notoriously hard-to-finish books

These hard-to-finish books are still worth the effort.

Starts With A Bang

Do gravitational waves exhibit wave-particle duality?

All matter particles can act as waves, and massless light waves show particle-like behavior. Can gravitational waves also be particle-like?

A woman with a blue lightning bolt in her face.

Neuropsych

The faulty weathermen of the mind

Could a theory from the science of perception help crack the mysteries of psychosis?

A collage highlighting disinformation with a fake ear.

The Learning Curve

Disarming disinformation: How to understand and counter the “post-truth playbook”

Philosopher Lee McIntyre discusses the dangers of disinformation, how such falsehoods spread, and what we can do about it.

superconducting material magnetic levitation

Starts With A Bang

Ask Ethan: Is LK-99 the holy grail of superconductors?

Recent claims put LK-99 as the first room temperature, ambient pressure superconductor ever. Has the game changed, or is it merely hype?

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