Guest Thinkers — August 16, 2010

We’re Missing the Story on Palin’s Environmental Record

That’s the argument of Curtis Brainard at the Columbia Journalism Review. As he concludes:

Palin might not have the longest political track record to scrutinize, but the environment is clearly one area in which there is plenty of room to dig. It’s time for the national media to take a cue from the Anchorage Daily News and explore the myriad ways in which Palin’s environmental record might affect all manner of federal governance, from Bush’s midnight regulations to McCain’s less conservative, but potentially mutable, positions.

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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McCain’s Biggest Contributor Also Leading Science Advocate

To say that Republicans are anti-science has always been an extreme over-simplification, the type of characterization that carries weight at liberal blogs but doesn’t really match up well with political […]