Guest Thinkers

“China is pouring another $7 billion into Brazil’s oil industry, reigniting fears of a global ‘land grab’ of natural resources.” The Independent on a rising China’s geopolitical strategies.

When Maurizio Cattelan unveiled his 30-foot-high sculpture titled L.O.V.E. in front of the Milan Stock Exchange recently, many people were wondering exactly where the love was. The massive hand with […]

Last night I appeared on a panel here at AU with the editors and contributors to the bold new book “The Environmental Politics of Sacrifice.”  The goal of the book […]

Since its invention in 1859, the escalator has been the most widely used mode of non-vehicle urban transpiration, ubiquitous everywhere from airports to shopping malls to subways. It is estimated […]

Yesterday, Ezra Klein flagged an excellent idea from progressive think tank The Third Way: why don’t we give taxpayers a receipt for their taxes? As The Third Way’s David Kendall […]

There’s been a lot of great writing about the conservative backlash known as the tea party lately. Matt Taibbi has an astute take on racism and the tea party movement […]

A quickie post, but there were a few things too good to pass up: Twenty Indonesian volcanoes “ready to erupt”: Ralph at the Volcanism Blog has a great new post […]

Time for a new mystery volcano photo. The last one was a little harder, but Boris Behncke got it on his first try as Negit Island in Mono Lake, California […]

“Brazil goes to the polls on Sunday to choose a new president. After two terms, Lula will leave behind a booming economy and renewed international confidence.”

“American society has become increasingly harsh, where the richest Americans buy their way to political power, and the poor are abandoned to their fate.”

“The role of religion seems increasingly to be filled by environmentalism. It has become ‘the religion of choice for urban atheists,’ according to Michael Crichton, the late author.”

“Female sexual dysfunction—which is claimed to affect up to two thirds of women—is a disorder invented by the pharmaceutical industry to build global markets for drugs to treat it.”

One cannot put it much better than this: Literature is a felicity, but it is not a festival. It is a proposal, or an infinity of proposals, for an emendation, […]

Three House Republicans want to eliminate energy efficiency standards for light bulbs. Reps. Joe Barton (R-TX), Michael Burgess (R-TX), and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) have introduced the Better Use of Light […]

Try #3 on this post (let’s not get into it): Taal and Mayon rumble: PHIVOLCS reports that two of the more hazardous volcanoes in the Philippines are experiencing increased seismicity: […]

Philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah sparked an internet meme with his op/ed entitled “What Will Future Generations Condemn Us For“? The challenge is to predict which widely accepted practices or institutions […]

A sentiment registering somewhere between disgust and loathing rose up in my chest yesterday when I read that Delaware Tea Party candidate Christine O’Donnell had claimed on the site LinkedIn […]

Yesterday, Howard University hosted a panel discussion on “The Poetry of Science” featuring Neil deGrasse Tyson and Richard Dawkins. Among subjects, Tyson and Dawkins discussed the prospects for life on […]

“After years of saying habitable exoplanets are just around the corner, planet hunters have found Gliese 581g, the first planet found to lie squarely in its star’s habitable zone.”

When critic Randall Jarrell mentioned Vermeer in a review of Elizabeth Bishop’s poetry, Bishop excitedly expressed her joy over someone making the connection. We can only guess how she’d feel […]

In a recent post, I argued that the tax burden on the rich is not as great as some would have you believe. It’s not that there is anything wrong […]

Talk about hubris… Dirty trickster James O’Keefe’s foray into gonzo porn has ended disastrously for him. O’Keefe schemed to seduce CNN investigative reporter Abbie Boudreau in front of hidden cameras. […]

In a guest post today, AoE culture correspondent Patrick Riley takes a look at the efforts by James McCartney and other Beatles offspring to escape the celebrity penumbra of their […]

One day, quantum computers may replace the standard silicon chips found in all computers around the world. In fact, by 2020 to 2025, transistors will be so small and will […]

After spotlighting the Lunartic bike concept, here is another noteworthy finalist in designboom and Seoul Design Foundation’s Seoul Cycle Design Competition. Bikoff by Argentinian industrial design student Marcos Madia takes […]

The fact that technological power comes in smaller, faster and cheaper objects is a very important observation that underlies many of the phenomena around us today.

Eruptions readers have pointed out to me that El Reventador, one of the more active volcanoes in the Andes – that also happens to be close to Quito – has […]

Steve Dahl makes the case for checking the veracity of political ads. “Don’t count on the broadcasters…I have never seen them come down on the side of truth over money.”

Exterminating wolves from Yellowstone de-watered the land. Their reintroduction has reshaped an entire ecosystem and shown how large predators regulate their ecosystems.

The first time you see a painting by Giuseppe Arcimboldo, you probably don’t know what to make of it. It’s clearly some kind of joke, but what kind? When you […]