Guest Thinkers

A 40-something acquaintance is married, with two children. She’s been going through a job transition, so she and her husband are both working out of the home, and it’s not […]

We may like to think that “it’s just a game”, but rooting for our teams, and all the other groups to which we belong, is tied to nothing less than our very drive to survive.

How does Herman Cain become the bad guy for telling the truth, something every true blue member of the GOP says they want to see more of in a candidate? […]

Deeply rooted beliefs about medicine are being disrupted, and this was the subject of a panel at The Nantucket Project, a festival of ideas that took place on the island from September 30 to October 2.

Bloggers in the Mexican border town of Nuevo Laredo are being terrorized by a drug cartel trying to silence those speaking out on drug-related violence. Anonymity is faulty protection.

The story of war has always been told by men. But what happens when we look at war through the eyes of women? That’s the fundamental premise of an upcoming […]

Is it better to burn out, as Neil Youngsang, than to fade away? When it came to the drama of the Abstract expressionists, Jackson Pollock burned out like a supernova […]

Today, another Ig-Nobel Prize installment, this time from the actual winner in Psychology, Karl Halvor Teigen. The question: why do we sigh? Is a sigh, as that all-time greatest song […]

So I saw MONEYBALL.  It’s a fine movie.  Brad Pitt has exceeded Robert Redford in his capacity to convey brooding and ironic depth—while adding envy, resentment, and parental love.  Jonah […]

Over the past few days a “scandal” has emerged from a leaked email regarding AirBnB’s new round of financing.  Potential investor Chamath Palihapitiya (former head of growth at Facebook and now […]

Bridging disparate cultural and political backgrounds remains a challenge for social media.

Has the Occupy Wall Street movement, which started as a leaderless group of several hundred protestors in lower Manhattan rallying against the failed policies of the federal government and corporate […]

Scientists of the RUB department for Neurophysiology have proven that we don’t need to actively explore new environments in order to learn but that passively watching new information on a […]

More form Mark Seddon’s new book; ‘Standing for Something – Life in the Awkward Squad’, published this week, is available by buying the book http://www.bitebackpublishing.com/books/Standing%20for%20Something/ March 2011: Perched in the offices of […]

BY JASON SILVA “Limited in his nature, infinite in his desire, man is a fallen god who remembers heaven.”   –Alphonse de Lamartine, French romantic poet. PART I: DREAMING WITH […]

As it sheds the notion that people are rational pursuers of their own self-interest, society is slowly but surely reconfiguring itself. The changes usually fall below the radar of daily […]

It’s becoming increasingly popular to consult with an online physician rather than a real-world physician. 

I enjoyed this recent article by Neal Stephenson in the World Policy Journal, but I think he and his editors may have buried their lede. Stephenson, a bestselling science fiction […]

We become high achievers by working on something important—all the while procrastinating doing something even more important.

I’ve delayed my promised post on the the final episode of the instant classic TV show FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS in order to give you time to view it.  Sports, especially […]

Initially inspired by the special effects of Jurassic Park, Ramesh Raskar has invented revolutionary electronic devices and now aims to create entirely new disciplines of research.

For those who want more al-Awlaki, although I don’t see how you possibly could.  Here is a radio spot I did for the Takeaway this morning. And a video from […]

The al-Awlaki stories continue to fly off the presses at an astounding rate.  (But more on that later). One of the things I neglected to mention in my earlier post […]

Earlier this week I wrote that the Supreme Court was likely to take up a case challenging the Affordable Care Act in the next term. The Obama administration decided Monday […]

If we want to change our society, we need to focus our attention on our women, says Sir Fazle Abed, founder of one of the most efficient microfinance organizations in the world.

Early this morning the Yemeni government released the following statement: The government of the Republic of Yemen announced today the death of Anwar Al-Awlaki, the American born terrorist and member […]

Einstein released many theories during his scientific career, but it was the publishing of his two theories of relativity that literally shook the foundations of physics. The theories proposed by […]

How many times will Bob Dylan be accused of plagiarism of one kind or another? The latest accusations blowing in the wind involve not Dylan’s style or songs, but rather […]

“Women are conflicted in ten different directions today,” “Shirin” tells me. She’s an accomplished, unmarried woman in her 40s, living in Los Angeles.  She continues, “They know you cannot have […]

So here’s the advice of the maverick philosopher: The solid bourgeois may dismiss as so much nonsense philosophy, poetry, and other products of questers and romantics—all the while subscribing to […]