Guest Thinkers — November 6, 2009

The Commoditization of Female Sex

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

Recreational intercourse isn’t anything new. But wouldn’t you think that today’s women are more in touch with their wants and desires in the bedroom? Gender expert Elizabeth Debold begs to differ.

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

A beach along the Great Lakes with waves crashing over rocks and sand.

The Past

How the Great Lakes formed—and the mystery of who watched it happen

Skilled hunters adapted to the changing landscape and left tantalizing clues to who they were.

Charles bridge in prague, czech republic.

Neuropsych

An untold story of LSD psychotherapy in communist Czechoslovakia

Uncovering the story of Milan Hausner, the Sadská clinic, and LSD psychotherapy behind the Iron Curtain.

The Present

The plastic paradox: How plastics went from elephant saviors to eco-villains

Do the benefits of plastics outweigh the costs?

A model of the Colossus depicting the grandeur of ancient Rome.

The Past

This virtual 3D model lets you wander the streets of ancient Rome

Archaeologist Bernard Frischer spent decades uploading the ruins of the Eternal City to the cloud. Here’s what it looks like.

Aphantasia limits the ability to visualize a statue of a man in the mind's eye.

Neuropsych

My brain doesn’t picture things. What’s wrong with me?

I also can’t conjure sounds, smells, or any other kind of sensory stimulation inside my head. This is called “aphantasia.”

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Guest Thinkers

United Nations Barcelona Climate Change Talks: Final Day

The top United Nations authority on climate change said that a binding treaty aimed at reducing the world’s carbon emissions is no longer a possible outcome of the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference.