bigthinkeditor

“Wear a smile and have friends; wear a scowl and have wrinkles.”- George Eliot

“People call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute.” – Rebecca West (born on this date in 1892)

“If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me, I know that is poetry.” – Emily Dickinson (born on this date in 1830)

Researchers used thermal infrared sensors to pinpoint the record-setting pockets on a high ridge of the East Antarctic Plateau. The record low: minus 136 F (minus 93.2 C), set on August 10, 2010.  

Warning: this video might drive you a little bit nuts. Even after you realize that it is messing with your head, the optical illusion in the video will continue to convince you to believe that two squares are identical. What a reminder of how easily we are fooled!

This illustration represents the possible extent of an ancient lake inside Gale Crater on Mars. Examination of mudstone confirmed the exist of the lake which formed billions of years ago. 

A lawsuit is demanding certain rights for a 26-year-old chimpanzee named Tommy on the basis that personhood derives from cognitive and emotional qualities that chimpanzees, like humans, possess in abundance. 

“The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven..” ― John Milton

“I’ve never believed in God, but I believe in Picasso. ”- Diego Rivera (born on this date in 1886)

Victory at Sea utilized a full arsenal of media to create what Harper’s called “a new art form.” 

Earth is actually the brightest source of gamma-rays, the most energetic form of light.

“If we don’t believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don’t believe in it at all.”-Noam Chomsky (born on this date in 1928)

Google is looking to build an artificial brain, a fact that “some may consider thrilling and others deeply unsettling. Or both.”

“To be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” -Nelson Mandela

The computer scientists and ranking enthusiasts Steven Skiena and Charles Ward used Google’s Page-Rank algorithm to determine the most significant people of all time. 

Throughout history ideas about gender have always tended to drift back and forth into science and then back out into the culture.

“What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning.”-Werner Heisenberg

Falcon 9 made history in 2012 when the SpaceX rocket delivered Dragon into orbit for a rendezvous with the International Space Station. Yesterday, following two postponements, Falcon 9 launched its first commercial payload. 

Our understanding of neutrinos might help us solve one of the greatest questions of all time – why matter won out over antimatter, or why we are here. 

“I’ve got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom.”-Thomas Carlyle (born on this date in 1795)

“The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.” – Joseph Conrad (born on this date in 1857)

A new study confirms what psychological tests have indicated for a long time, that men and women are each better at performing different types of mental tasks.

“We recently had to ask a rude customer to leave because of their insistence on wearing and operating Google Glasses inside the restaurant.”

Amazon, the world’s largest retailer, is developing systems to deliver products to customers in 30 minutes or less. How will they accomplish this? With drones, such as the “octocopter” pictured above. 

While hope remained over the weekend that Comet ISON may have survived its close encounter with the Sun, the 4.5 billion year-old comet fragmented on November 28.  

Astronomers at the Very Large Telescope(VLT) in Chile are using this laser to measure the distortions of Earth’s ever changing atmosphere. 

“If only God would give me some clear sign! Like making a large deposit in my name at a Swiss bank.” -Woody Allen (born on this day in 1935)  

The experience of awe — in the form of mountains, canyons and outer space — makes one more apt to believe that the universe was constructed “according to God’s or some other nonhuman entity’s plan.”

“When a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him.” -Jonathan Swift (born on this day in 1667)

While this robot may provide security, some experts also fear its monitoring capabilities will further erode personal privacy.