The arms industry, much like our domestic pacific economy, is looking for a bump in exports given the recession. Weapons manufacturers want to sell arms in the Middle East and Asia.

Is freedom of religion still a valued principle in America? "The Ground Zero mosque is only one of several mosques that are being strongly opposed. Opposition to mosques is on the rise."

"Experts writing this year's dietary guidelines say strong evidence indicates that moderate alcohol consumption results in a longer life and slower cognitive decline."

Without the ability to daydream and hallucinate, computers will never think as humans do. David Gelernter, Yale professor of computer science, predicts the next stages of AI.

"Amazon reports that sales of e-books have finally surpassed sales of hardcovers. That's a pretty momentous development." Megan McArdle at The Atlantic thinks the Kindle's day has come.

"MIT political scientists demonstrate how much candidate appearances affect election outcomes, globally." Good looks seem to win out across cultures with very different histories.

"So even though a meat-free world sounds good on paper, it is likely that a utopian future will still have some animal products in it. And we are talking meat, not just milk and eggs."

If you listen to the entire video of Shirley Sherrod's infamous NAACP remarks, somewhere around the 14 minute mark, your stomach will start to curdle as you hear her describe […]

“It gives you a whole new way of looking at the day,” Dennis Hopper’s character Billy says in the unforgettable film, Easy Rider, which the then 33-year-old Hopper also directed. […]

Scientists' understanding of Mercury, the planet closest to the Sun, changed dramatically this past week, thanks to images and data from the satellite Messenger. In September of last year, the […]

I am taking a couple of weeks off. But while I’m away, I thought I’d share with you some of the what I consider to be this year’s essential readings […]

The late, great pianist is Huang’s favorite, but if she tried to mimic his daring interpretations, "it would not be very good," she says.

The 14-year-old pianist wants to drag classical music into the 21st century by creating an iPhone app for fans of the German composer.

Keeping track of all the different voices in a Bach piece is a fun way to improve your technique, says the 14-year-old champion pianist—but it can also affect your brain.

"If you put down your controller for just a second while playing Mario Kart—wham—you’ll crash and lose a life." The 14-year-old champion pianist says the consequences are similar, albeit less […]

A friend of mine, who works in the sustainable food industry, was alarmed by my recent post on overfishing. Not alarmed to learn about the demise of marine ecosystems (she […]

From a distance, Johann Sebastian Bach's pieces seem so "simple and pure," says the 14-year-old pianist. But on "the inside" they are much more complex.

A conversation with the pianist.

The national security business is booming, even bloated, according to "Top Secret America," an in-depth investigative report published Monday in the Washington Post.  Among the findings: an estimated 854,000 people […]

If you knew exactly how much electricity your home consumed, would you be more mindful of your carbon footprint and adjust your habits to lower consumption? Textile designer Cecil Marcq […]