Guest Thinkers

A deadly Egyptian cobra is AWOL from the Bronx Zoo. Anybody got a spare mongoose? [Photo credit: Pandiyan, Creative Commons.]

I don’t know if this is such an appropriate post for Sunday morning. A study from Northwestern shows that people who regularly attend religious services are 50% more likely to become […]

This study just out in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin claims to have found a general societal prejudice against women who breast-feed. Reports about the work concurred. But I think […]

It has been a few weeks since the new activity at Kilauea along the Kamoamoa Fissure stopped, but little else started back up along the volcano’s east rift. The Kamoamoa […]

Orr’s piece in the New York Times Book Reviewon an O magazine photo shoot with young poets is a perfect example of how to write about something you know a […]

The three most feared words in the lexicon of a nuclear scientist is “breach of containment,” i.e. an uncontrolled release of radiation into the environment. It appears that we may […]

Commentators and advocates tend to argue that the Europe Union has taken the lead in climate policy in reaction to strong public demand across member states.  Yet the reality, argues […]

So, yes, I watch American Idol–not obsessively or religiously, but whenever I can. It’s a conservative show.  It promotes a meritocracy based on singing excellence, and that excellence is not […]

A couple of days ago, I wrote about an op-ed William Cronon wrote in The New York Times arguing that by attempting to strip public unions of their bargaining rights, […]

Research suggests that while men and women may behave differently in relationships, their underlying needs, wants and perspectives may not be so different, especially in committed relationships.

Well, I really messed up that Mystery Volcano Photo, eh? I had, in fact, posted that very image before of Kirishima to show the “before” of the crater [head slap […]

Why any man is willing to pay $3.8 million dollars for a one-time experience, when he doesn’t get a wife out of the deal, is frankly beyond economic reasoning.

Today’s copy of the New York Times sits beside me, unopened. Most of my normal internet haunts have been ignored this morning. Why? Because I have been totally absorbed by […]

Thank you to all for the comments over on the “state of the blog” post – keep those comments coming. I thought I’d send you off for the weekend with […]

I had wonderful plans for a post today, but as they say “best laid plans …” The post in question will see the light of day, but it turned out […]

Today in an op-ed for the New York Times I argue that the US can no longer put its momentary security interests ahead of its values in Yemen. You can […]

When Michael Quick searched high and low in 2007 for paintings by 19th century American master George Inness to include in what would be his award-winning catalogue raisonne of Inness’ […]

Will we gain our immortality as algorithms in the global human brain? The idea of the coming Singularity does sound nutty when it is stated so blatantly, argues Silicon Valley visionary Jaron Lanier. 

This expert explains why in a very detailed and most plausible way. Here’s one taste: Is the United States more prone to higher levels of anxiety than other nations? Put simply, […]

Currently, we are unable to prove our “hidden” knowledge, things that are learned “along the way” rather than in a certified course or degree program. That needs to—and will—change, perhaps thanks to these innovative start ups.

Here in New York it is possible to take a slightly more dispassionate view of some of the Western, particularly British media, reaction to the events in Libya. The most […]

Another brief post for today during this quiet week – I promise a larger post tomorrow, but it is going to take some time to finish. Today, you can live […]

Janet Malcolm is a careful writer. The new Paris Review has an interview with her. The Review still publishes the best interviews on code-cracking the art of writing. This exchange—which […]

At one time, it seemed inconceivable that Detroit—the leading automotive center in the world—could ever lose its place on the world stage. But what if Silicon Valley is not ready for the Post-Silicon Era?

Yesterday, I posted links to article by myself and Ginny Hill on Yemen.  Today, I’ll add a number of other interviews by commentators on what is happening in Yemen.  Stacey […]

As I’ve written before, labor unions play a vital role in our economy. Whatever mixed feelings they have toward labor unions, Americans generally understand this. While they may not want […]

I have a photograph back home in England taken in 1978. It is of a demonstration organised by local trade unions in the small town of Trowbridge in Wiltshire, South […]

In a guest post today, Ashley Brosius a graduate student in my “Science, Environment, and the Media” course this semester discusses the need for greater focus on adaptation policy related […]

It’s no secret that most of our colleges that give lip service to “liberal education” don’t deliver it, and what they do teach exaggerates—not moderates—the undignified confusion of our time. […]

When I saw Death Cab For Cutie five years ago in Fribourg, Switzerland, I had to leave before the show was over to catch the last train back to Geneva. […]