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Nanotechnology is working to keep your electronic devices from overheating, improving efficiency and extending their life. Machines as large as electrical transformers stand to benefit.
When it come to renewable energy, portable electronics or electric cars, storing energy is a must, and the more we can store, the better. Batteries are essential to sustainable energy.
“All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up,” says washed-up silent film star Norma Desmond in the final scene of Billy Wilder’s unforgettable 1950 film Sunset Boulevard. Gloria Swanson […]
Here is a version of The Trolley Problem, a classic experiment in ethics. Let’s say you are next to some train tracks, and down the tracks and behind a […]
Here is a version of The Trolley Problem, a classic experiment in ethics. Let’s say you are next to some train tracks, and down the tracks and behind a […]
Neuroscientists have taken the first step toward decoding our thoughts into language by observing which parts of our brain respond to different sounds. Potential benefits are endless.
3mins
"We have a fundamental misallocation of resources in higher ed. We spend hundreds of billions of dollars; the vast bulk of it is going to people who already have advantages, […]
I had a heated debate on Facebook this week over the issue raised in this opinion piece in The New York Times that argues that anti-discrimination laws don’t go far […]
Mysterious dark matter and dark energy may no longer be needed to explain the Universe's accelerating expansion, which may be caused by tension between matter and antimatter.
As Dr. Michio Kaku has been predicting for years, we are inching ever closer to producing virtual reality contact lenses that will add a layer of interactive, rich information over our mundane […]
America's most powerful physics experiment, the Fermilab particle accelerator in Batavia, Illinois, is planning to test the results of a European experiment that claims to have seen the impossible.
On the way into work yesterday morning, I listened to Neal Boortz, Atlanta’s local talk radio blowhard, as he tried valiantly to convince one of his callers that Newt Gingrich […]
While Newt Gingrich may have lost the Florida primary, he has been quick to inspire the popular imagination. But just how out there is his idea for a permanent American moon base?
In what should be a boom time for alien-oriented astronomers, given NASA's recent discovery of an abundance of exoplanets, budget crises are holding back new projects that hold promise.
The mobile health revolution, which started and took off in overseas emerging markets, is rapidly making its way to the U.S. The past few months have brought a surge of […]
What's the Big Idea? "Your Gravity Theory Sucks!" Margaret Wertheim was surprised to find this comment on an order form for a self-published book called The Other Theory of Physics, […]
David Brooks is unparalleled as a summarizer and popularizer of social science. So we do well to note what he finds especially noteworthy about Charles Murray (with Peter Lawler's spin added, of course).
New software is turning surveillance cameras into a wealth of consumer behavior data. By tracking customer flow throughout the day, shops can better understand what their clients want.
What's the Big Idea? On average, students pay $35,000 a year for the privilege of being educated at a private nonprofit American college. In December of 2011, indebtedness among college […]