Guest Thinkers — February 22, 2011

Benjamin Franklin: America’s Greatest Innovator

In her latest “visual column” for the New York Times, the always-inspiring Maira Kalman documents the many innovations of Benjamin Franklin. The question is not what did Franklin invent, but rather, what didn’t he invent? Let’s see… the Franklin stove, swim fins, bifocal glasses, the lightning rod, the odometer… If he had lived during the Italian Renaissance, he would have been America’s answer to Da Vinci. As it was, he helped to make America the “land of invention” during the mid-19th century.

[image: “Can Do” from Maira Kalman]

a computer generated image of a human brain.

Thinking

The great free will debate featuring Michio Kaku and Steven Pinker

Who — or what — really controls your mind?

Building destroyed by the Halifax Explosion. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

The Past

The largest accidental explosion of all time

More than a century ago, Halifax suffered an accidental blast one-fifth the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

a collage of photos of a man with a hat and a book.

High Culture

6 great books with wildly unreliable narrators

Dive into the twisted truths and concealed realities told by literature’s most unreliable narrators.

a group of five matches on a pink background.

The Well

Signs you’re burned out — and how to bounce back

If you don’t feel better after the weekend, the “burnout paradox” could explain why.

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7 min

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with

Laurie Santos

Starts With A Bang

The trick to instantly identifying JWST images

If you can identify a foreground star, the spike patterns are a dead giveaway as to whether it’s a JWST image or any other observatory.

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