Guest Thinkers — September 1, 2010

The perfect holiday gift for certain occasions

What is better than a volcano? A volcano that erupts a dinosaur!

Erik Klemetti

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

Looking for that perfect gift for the geophile in your life?

How about a VOLCANO THAT ERUPTS A DINOSAUR. Honestly, could it get any better?

When I saw this in the store, I was a little dumbfounded … but really, it just makes sense.

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

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.”

The head of a man and a woman are shown side by side in a research study focused on ketamine and depression.

Neuropsych

A vaccine for depression

Ketamine’s remarkable effect bolsters a new theory of mental illness.

Thinking

Turing and Wittgenstein: An entanglement of math and philosophy

In pre-War Cambridge, students had to ace an interview with Ludwig Wittgenstein to attend his lectures — Alan Turing passed that test, and went on to create one of his own.

A failure of a paper airplane constructed from crumpled paper.

The Learning Curve

How to find success with the 4 conditions of “intelligent failure”

When we prepare for our plans to go wrong, we build the foundations for lasting profit.

A piece of wood with words written on it, discovered near Vesuvius.

The Past

Vesuvius Challenge: Can AI decipher these mysterious ancient scrolls?

The volcano’s historic eruption preserved an ancient library, but rendered its content illegible. A public competition aims to change that.

Up Next

Guest Thinkers

Mystery Volcano Photo #18

The competition is getting fierce in the Mystery Volcano Photo competition. Take your best guess at #18.