bigthinkeditor
The U.K.’s Business Secretary has lost power to block Murdoch’s BSkyB bid after he told two journalists posing as constituents that he had “declared war” on the media magnate.
The weird things we swallow and a wonderful man who dedicated much of his life to removing odd objects from people’s insides are the subject of the new book “Swallow.”
Scans show that most activities only cause a portion of the brain to “light up” with activity. Music makes all of the areas “light up” and create new neural pathways.
The popular perception is that Japan is stagnant but stable despite heavy government debt. So why are analysts earmarking it for the next global meltdown?
About 27 percent of all gene families that exist today were born between 3.3 billion and 2.8 billion years ago, two researchers from MIT have reported in Nature.
Yesterday’s FCC ruling on net neutrality shifts billions in profits and boils down to one fact: There will soon be a fast Internet for the rich and a slow Internet for the poor.
Top writers—from Salman Rushdie to John Irving to Margaret Atwood to Bret Easton Ellis—talk about inspiration, the discipline of writing, and how to create memorable characters.
University of Notre Dame law professor John Copeland Nagle thinks it defies representative government for an outgoing Congress to pass legislation after an election.
Can we simplify the universe into a single computer program? That is the question physicist, programmer, businessman, and all-around Renaissance man Stephen Wolfram has dedicated his career to solving. “We […]
Private contractors cost taxpayers worldwide untold billions in corruption, inefficiency, and mismanagement. The solution isn’t getting rid of them — it’s showing us their paperwork.
Net neutrality is the most important free speech issue of our time, says U.S. Sen. Al Franken, but regulations to be discussed today are badly flawed, he claims.
Most fat cells are “white”, store excess energy and make it tough to lose weight. But mice’s white fat cells have been turned into energy burning brown fat cells. Humans could be next.
German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière on the failed terrorist attack in Stockholm, his opinion of WikiLeaks and governments’ responsibility for protecting the Internet.
Crying isn’t the sure-fire, feel-good tonic it’s cracked up to be. Psychologists found that the benefits of tears depend entirely on the what, where and when of a particular crying episode.
Hundreds of Army social scientists are unqualified, a former boss says. He also claims some defense contractors charge exorbitant prices for “the lowest common denominator of people.”
The butchered bones of 12 men, women, and children found in a cave floor in Spain may be the remains of an extended Neanderthal family killed and eaten by their fellow Neanderthals.
The extent to which massive growth in commercial fishing is depleting the sea’s biodiversity has become source of a heated debate within the world of marine fisheries science.
The Washington Post reveals how U.S. counter-terrorism efforts since 9/11 have filtered down into local communities. Part of its ongoing, intensive look at the huge security buildup.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded $450 million in grants under its global health project. Five years from launch, they admit they had hoped to save more lives by now.
ScienceNOW’s Top 10 list of its favorite and most popular stories of 2010 is an eclectic mix. It includes its most popular story of all time: “Does Our Universe Live Inside a Wormhole?”
Germany’s controversial approach to fighting the euro crisis has split the European Union. The only thing agreed on is that the EU needs Germany as a motor if it is to survive.
Absent Mao’s exploits, the Chinese people would have started to enjoy their present good fortune three decades earlier. But would it have had a strong political basis for its prosperity?
The financial situations of many state and local government finances are also in bad shape, and in many respects they are far more difficult to solve than are the federal fiscal problems.
“Sudden Genius?” emphasizes that the major breakthroughs in the arts and sciences look sudden only in retrospect. Years of preparation paved the way to the eureka moment.
Was it contradictory of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s lawyers to condemn the leaking of secret government documents pertaining to the rape charges against him?
Repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell” was an important milestone. Achieving marriage equality should be one of the next steps, says Equality Matters president Richard Socarides.
Perceptual psychology, pre-eminently vision science, should be grabbing headlines. This science is more advanced than many biological sciences, including much neuroscience.
Unquestionably the greatest Christian intelligence of his age, Newman’s thought has retained a relevance matched by that of few other Victorians.
Startups lacking well thought out and viable data, business and revenue models are the root cause of the symptom of constantly oscillating (social network) user experiences.
Whole Foods CEO John Mackey speaks with Harvard Business Review editor Justin Foxx about the evolution of his company and his concept of “conscious” capitalism.