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Contrary to popular belief, China's dominance in the solar panel industry does not rely on its cheap labor source. Instead, it has been better at scaling production. But is that enough?
A team of scientists has discovered how to change plant biology to make crops more resistant to droughts. Increased food production and adaptation to climate change could result.
Scientists have discovered the smallest exoplanets yet known, and both represent the closest we have come to finding Earth's twin. Using NASA's Kepler telescope, researchers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for […]
As the kind of writer who keeps his finger squarely on the cultural pulse, I’ve just watched the Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan romantic comedy “You’ve Got Mail” for the first time […]
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Amid widely-publicized corporate scandals, global environmental threats, and powerful advances in biotechnology, says ethicist Paul Root Wolpe, big companies find themselves tromping through an ethical minefield, desperately in need of […]
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In this excerpt from his Floating University/Great Big Ideas lecture, Dr. Michio Kaku explains that string theory begins where Einstein's framework breaks down.
In this excerpt from his lecture for The Floating University, Dr. Kaku explains that time machines do not violate Einstein's laws of physics, and that future humans would be wise to build one and slip through a wormhole before the cooling universe extinguishes all known life.
As our political and media systems rapidly evolve, social scientists are revisiting and updating existing models, theories, and methods for investigating the effects of the media on political attitudes and […]
If 2011 is the year of Twitter Revolutions, what will be the big idea for 2012?
If you are in the throes of a metaphysical hangover, we offer you the cure: a whimper over the Mayan prophecy of apocalypse in the year 2012, followed by a shattering meditation upon the various ways the world might end.
Unrestrained obstructionism as a political strategy practically guarantees that the epitaph on the GOP’s 2012 presidential aspirations will read “too stupid to quit while they were ahead.” Is John Boehner […]
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Brad Burnham, Managing Parter at Union Square Ventures, explains that internet piracy isn't always a matter of stealing for the sake of stealing. Often, it's about gaining access when none has been made available.
Legal experts have joined the chorus of complaints about the proposed PROTECT IP and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) legislation, saying they'll hinder bids for better online security.
As patient records have been digitized, an unintended consequence is that health data breaches have surged. The number of reported breaches is up 32 percent this year.
What would you do if Google, Facebook, Paypal or another site you and your business depend on suddenly decided, on the basis of a fraud detection algorithm, you were dodgy?
Read Write Web's top stories about how the social web has helped us answer questions in 2011 includes the discovery of prehistoric earth-art and a photo archive of all species.
Facebook predicts that for the foreseeable future, the amount of information we share on the Web will double every year. Are we headed for an avalanche of daily trivialities?
Judging by the tremendous outpouring of support he’s received across the Web over the past week, comedian Louis C.K. may be the future of how stars create, produce and distribute their content on the Internet.
This trans-African colony could have rivalled Brazil for dominance of the Portuguese-speaking world.
What's the Big Idea? As Newt Gingrich appears to have peaked, and now plunged in the polls, the latest candidate to enter the GOP Presidential speed-dating game is Ron Paul. […]