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The novelist relies on improvisation as his fiction develops. “The fictional characters have their own volition … and are capable of proposing new ideas about how they want to live […]
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Digital culture is about getting to the meat of a subject as quickly as possible and then moving onto the next thing. Literature, on the other hand, is about doing […]
The New Yorker chronicles the artistic development of Bob Dylan parallel to his run-ins with The Beat writers in Greenwich Village, and particularly his lasting friendship with Allen Ginsberg.
"Are we making fewer discoveries than in the past? Can war make us cleverer? The answers lie in scientometrics, the field of research that puts scientists under the microscope."
"To put it bluntly, the bean counters are out of their depth." David Rieff says insistence on strict accountability in foreign aid programs means losing hearts and minds in Afghanistan.
America's ability to sap its intellectuals, from Twain to King, of their true revolutionary fervor reaches an apex with Jack London. The beloved author lived a dark and revolutionary life.
Presidents Kennedy and Eisenhower differed in their view of the military. Kennedy advocated American dominance; Eisenhower, a more limited force. In which direction are we headed?
New polls from Gallup show that commuting adversely affects physical and emotional health. Those with longer commutes suffer back and neck pain and worry more than non-commuters.
"Mathematicians are facing a stark choice—embrace monstrous infinite entities or admit the basic rules of arithmetic are broken." The New Scientist on mathematic's new uncertainty.
Judge Richard Posner supports a value-added tax as part of an overall tax reform plan to encourage entrepreneurial development and avoid increasing the debt burden on the future.
Do you have sex like a Finn or a Bangladeshi? Researchers have surveyed "sociosexuality"—the scientific euphemism for promiscuity—in 48 countries. Where do you rank?
"A team of MIT engineers has devised a way to deliver the necessary drugs by smuggling them on the backs of the cells sent in to fight the tumor." The procedure reduces health risks.
The idea that knowledge produces fact while imagination produces fiction is wrong, says a professor of logic at Oxford. Imagination is crucial to fundamental cognitive abilities.
What would you do to give your child a head-start in life? If you’re one of the millions of so-called “helicopter parents” we discussed previously in our series, the answer […]
A few stories from over the weekend that raise decades-old questions about the connection between media and violence as well as the role that media play in the construction of […]
One paper in the special issue proposes strategies for catalyzing greater collaboration on climate change communication among the “four cultures.” The August issue of the journal Frontiers in Ecology and […]
Tomorrow morning at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, I will be addressing the annual conference of the University Research Magazine Association. I have pasted the text of my prepared remarks […]
Credit: NY Daily NewsOver the weekend, Politico ran a lengthy feature by Josh Gerstein in which he asks various experts to assess how environmental groups have reacted to the Obama […]
You have to like the U.S. chances in advancing to the semi-finals of the World Cup. That’s right, the semi-finals. If the U.S. beats Ghana on Saturday–and they should be […]