Guest Thinkers

The latest nutritional thinking has zeroed in on carbohydrates as a likely cause of heart disease, the biggest killer of Americans, yet government nutrition policy recommends 6-11 servings.

To deliver new personalized medicines into the body, new devices are needed—medical research companies will be tasked with creating the next generation of drug delivery vehicles.

As we come to rely more and more upon technology as a filter for our own life experiences, opportunities to bend reality abound.  In theory, none of this is new. […]

Recently a company in the Netherlands known as “Moddr.Net” released a software application allowing users to commit “virtual suicide.”  Their free product, the “Web 2.0 Suicide Machine” allows users to […]

DEAN YEAGER: “Doctor… Venkman. The purpose of science is to serve mankind. You seem to regard science as some kind of dodge… or hustle. Your theories are the worst kind […]

Yes, it is a Pocket Light, and you could actually keep it not only in your pocket but in your wallet as well, next to.. other useful items handy for […]

In second grade, my teacher made a statement that literally shocked me to the core. I have not forgotten it after all these years. She said, “God so loved the […]

Here’s a little something for you to think about over the weekend. Those resisters and naysayers in your school organization (or corporation or nonprofit or …)? You know, the ones […]

Joshua King had a great game plan in his job search: make a list of the companies he wanted to work for, research them, and network with as many people […]

Well, when it rains, it pours. We’ve gone from some rather sparse Smithsonian/USGS Global Volcanism Program Weekly Volcanic Activity Reports to a quite busy one. So, in an attempt to […]

That is the premise of Zinch. Zinch connects students to schools and scholarships which in itself is of course not that revolutionary. But other than just delivering the obligatory test […]

So here’s an engaging and most instructive lecture by the legendary Harvey Mansfield, probably the only member of the government faculty at Harvard who votes Republican.  Mansfield, of course, is famous […]

On June 4, 2009, President Obama gave a speech at Cairo University in Egypt, in which he said he was seeking “a new beginning between the United States and Muslims […]

Newt Gingrich has apologized to Paul Ryan for calling his budget plan “right wing social engineering. Rick Santorum will be apologizing soon to John McCain for suggesting that McCain doesn’t […]

Telica, in Nicaragua, looks to have awoken after a few years of relative quiet for the active Central American volcano. The ~1000 meter Telica erupted over the last few days, […]

The same people who brought you Wikileaks are back, and this time, they’ve created a virtual currency called Bitcoin that could destabilize the entire global financial system. Bitcoin is an […]

Criminal Implications of Implantable Medical Devices Since the dawn of the 1970′s television action show the Six Million Dollar Man, the public has been fascinated by bionics and the integration […]

Is free will real, or is just one of our happy illusions? As it turns out, the answer might not matter as much as our belief in the answer does. […]

Have you had days that you would just like to erase out of existence? Or maybe burn away, collect the ashes and let the wind carry them as far away […]

Today is May 18 and that marks the date of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington that killed 57 people (video). I don’t have an elaborate post […]

When arrested in 1936 during a protest over the dismissal of 500 artists from the WPAFederal Art Project, Lee Krasner told the unsuspecting police officer processing her that her name […]

One of the more exciting frontiers in geology is that of planetary volcanology – that is, how do volcanoes work on other planets. We know at least a few in […]

Yale University didn’t wait for federal civil rights officials to determine whether the presence of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity was contributing to a hostile sexual environment. The University has […]

So one of our BIG THINKERS, Daniel Honan, gave us a fine introduction to one of the biggest ideas around, THE END OF HISTORY. Daniel is right that the idea […]

“Unless you love, your life will flash by.” These are the last words of the voice-over for Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life trailer. There isn’t much that distinguishes them from […]

At American University, students can study dimensions of the climate change challenge across multiple disciplines including environmental science, communication, public affairs, business, and international relations.  This spring two students in the School […]

As more and more SlutWalk marches against sexual violence and victim blaming take place across the country and overseas, the movement is attracting criticism from some feminists who regard the […]

When I moved to Halifax Nova Scotia, where I live now, I was told that people in the Maritimes were happy to set their friends up for love and romance. […]

Power changes how we make decisions. That’s what I thought when I first read about Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s debacle – and the escapades that have apparently preceded it. Actually, the first […]

After last week’s steam-driven phreatic explosions, it might have been expected that Bulusan would go back to being quiet – that has been the pattern for over 8 months since […]