The Present

A ban on fast food would save multitudes more than the travel ban ever could.   

While pejorative stereotypes have been properly cast aside, the question remains whether there is a fundamental difference between how Eastern and Western societies are configured.

If Indiana Jones and Google Earth had a love child, it would be GlobalXplorer, a “space archaeology” software by TED Prize winner Sarah Parcak.

America has a split personality, and the country it wants to be is constantly being foiled by the country that it is. In an ideal world, says Jelani Cobb, there is a way of using power that does not entail the oppression and exploitation of other people. But how do we get there?

David Miliband has said that the hardest way into the US is to enter as a refugee. Is he correct?

Journalists were once outsiders looking in, says Gay Talese, but today their proximity to Washington makes them myopic; they’d be wiser to disperse and keep their eyes on the horizon.

A new risk analysis shows how the danger of terrorist attacks compares to other causes of American deaths.

Universal Basic Income an expensive system to be sure, but social justice commentator Eva Cox argues that the societal returns will be worth the investment.  

Elon Musk’s growing relationship with President Trump can result in revolutionizing the country’s aging infrastructure.   

The first week of Donald Trump’s Presidency features a flurry of activity and a flurry of warnings, like the resetting of the Doomsday Clock.

The world economy is often measured in terms of money, but is this the best method?

Elon Musk’s cryptic messages about a mysterious tunneling project in California are getting more substantive.

In a world afraid of embarrassment, asking dumb questions is a super power, says Tim Ferriss. It takes a secure intellect to risk looking silly, but the rewards are there for the taking.

A careful analysis by two economists finds that phony journalism had little influence on voters and the outcome of the election.

A universal basic income (UBI) policy could change how we evaluate the meaning and quality of work in our society.

A new genetic study sees us getting gently stupider over time.

Nowhere is anti-intellectualism more warmly incubated or does misinformation spread faster than in the online community, which is why Facebook – the third most-visited website in the world – has such a weighty responsibility.rn

The feud between some of the Rockefellers and ExxonMobil has intensified.

In 1972, eight mice were placed in a utopia. Full of food, water, bedding, and space for 3000 mice. Within three years there were no survivors.   

Politics is a noble, brave world, says Bernard-Henri Lévy – but that’s not what we have here. rn

Did decentralizing top-down media control bring us any closer to the truth-topia we were hoping for?

It takes four dollars of debt to create a single dollar of GDP growth in China. For context, at the peak of the GFC in 2008 it was taking three dollars of debt to create a dollar of GDP growth in the U.S. China has received the kiss of debt, says Ruchir Sharma.

How will we deal with the impending overpopulation crisis – and how much of a crisis is it anyway?

A global risk report by the World Economic Forum lists populism and social division among the top five trends that will determine global markets in 2017 and beyond.

Louise Tarrant argues less work is not weakness, but a sign of prosperity and a necessity to the coming automation.

More than 630 companies are calling out President-elect Donald Trump in an open letter. It asks him to keep the promises the United States made during the Paris Agreement and move us closer to a low-carbon economy.

A new nonprofit organization aims to elect more scientists to the U.S government.

Students at an English university have demanded that their curriculum be “decolonized”. What does that mean?  

Want to make someone an offer they can’t refuse? Understand how our minds are hung up on loss aversion, says former FBI negotiator Chris Voss.

Go fearlessly into the Internet, but not blindly, says Virginia Heffernan – each corner of digital culture has its best practices. Not learning them is a disrespect.