bigthinkeditor

Environmentalism is all the rage, but which of our green dispositions really work? The Christian Science Monitor invites you to match environmental wits with Al Gore.

While popular culture emphasizes the role of scientific evidence in the criminal justice system, the role of forensic evidence still plays a minor role in the court room.

“Big Banker is watching you—more closely than ever.” Karen Blumenthal explains new techniques used by financial institutions to asses a person’s credit.

“The American dream is the ideology of the housing bubble.” Christopher Caldwell says the American Dream has virtually disappeared since the housing crisis.

Following reports that performers in ‘Spider-Man’ had sustained injuries while using the production’s complex flying equipment, the Broadway musical has been postponed.

“What has become of the rule of law in the U.S.?” Rewritten bankruptcy provisions reduce indebted homeowners to servitude, says Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz.

Forget about 3-D movies and television, says the Christian Science Monitor. 3-D holograms, once seen only in science-fiction movies like Star Wars, are swiftly becoming a reality.

The city that kept out the Republicans and banned Happy Meals has a long history of doing things its own way. The Independent on the history of San Fran.

Research into the possibility of engineering a better climate is progressing at an impressive rate—and meeting strong opposition. The Economist reports.

Award wining Picasso biographer John Richardson examines the painter’s alleged support of communism. Picasso remained sympathetic to Catholicism, Richardson says.

“Ridiculing Tea Party shenanigans is a serious error.” Noam Chomsky says we must first understand why justly angry citizens have been drawn to the right.

The world is lousy with aspiring novelists who will probably never be published. Intelligent Life Magazine offers insight into what keeps them writing.

What can be said of revelatory moments in life whose meaning seems beyond the reach of words? Should anything be said at all? Philosopher Roger Scruton on the ineffable.

“Text messagers and computer gamers aren’t alone in the willful misspelling department. RNA molecules do it, too.”

In Senegal, money from Europe represents close to 10% of GDP. The flows of capital generated by migrant workers exceeds the foreign development aid Senegal receives.

“Psychopaths are a paradox. Many of them, like Bundy, are intellectually high functioning, and they clearly know right from wrong. They are not delusional, they are socially inept.”

“…green movements have continued to grow… What has changed is that a powerful counter-movement, led by corporate-funded thinktanks, has waged war on green policies.”

“The whole focus on ‘focus’ is…an act of intellectual cowardice — a way to criticize President Obama’s record without explaining what you would have done differently.”

“The United Nations has named oil-rich Norway as the country with the best quality of life, followed by Australia and New Zealand, while Asia has made the biggest strides.”

“Much of the discussion about torture concentrates on the moral and ethical dilemmas involved, but…these arguments…are irrelevant if torture doesn’t work in the first place.”

“Suddenly art history (once again) finds itself being turned on its head as another aspect of the past gets unearthed and revised.” This time the subject is the women Pop artists.

The narrow focus on ‘lifestyle factors’ has implied that when people get cancer, it’s their own fault. Is it time to focus more on environmentally induced cancers?rn

There has been a putative epidemic of bipolar among children in the U.S., and a corresponding rise in the pediatric use of antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, and other drugs.

Christine Quinn hates it when people say “it is what is.” As a kid she read every biography in her school library about a political leader or famous woman. “The […]

Consumers today are knowingly and unknowingly providing businesses with more data than they’ve ever been capable of collecting before. The analysis of this information could have profound implications for business.

There isn’t really such thing as a “masculine” and a “feminine,” says feminist icon Gloria Steinem. Because we’ve been so deeply propagandized with the notions about what it means to […]

Forbes’ Quentin Hardy says the U.S. economy is on track to collapse in twelve years based on analyses of the diminishing rate of returns from private assets.

“What we divulge might seem contradictory or bizarre because the line we refuse to cross is so deeply personal.” Jessa Crispin says privacy concerns are relative.

As the midterm’s drubbing ends, Barack Obama needs to embrace the theatrics of the presidency, however cheesy that may seem to him, says Tina Brown.