Technology & Innovation — May 29, 2010

Economic Recovery?

“US fashion commentators are now suggesting that economic strength might also be reflected in the length of men’s swimming trunks,” reports The Guardian. But is it a truncated theory?

bigthinkeditor

“US fashion commentators are now suggesting that economic strength might also be reflected in the length of men’s swimming trunks,” reports The Guardian. But is it a truncated theory? “When the stock market rises men’s beach shorts shrink proportionally as customers trade more conservative board shorts for racier lengths. Trend experts are claiming that as the economy musters a recovery then men’s hemlines are heading north. Shorter swim shorts are, according to Eric Jennings of luxury department store Saks Fifth Avenue ‘definitely the look right now’.

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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Culture & Religion

The Art of Theft

“Art is a conversation between and among artists, not a patent office. Reality can’t be copyrighted,” writes David Shields in his spirited defense of artistic appropriation.