Guest Thinkers — August 16, 2010

Why Apple is So Seductive: NPR’s On the Media on How Journalists Immediately Fell in Love with the iPhone

By far, the most successful buzz marketing campaign of the past decade has been Apple’s ability to dominate news coverage with the release of their latest i-products. NPR’s On the Media interviews Wired columnist Pete Mortenson on how Apple gets journalists and news organizations to do their PR for them, heralding new products as page one news. Just press play above to listen.

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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Project for Excellence in Journalism Releases First Weekly News Agenda Analysis

Every Tuesday, the Project for Excellence in Journalism will be releasing their weekly news index report, an analysis that tracks the major stories across media sectors including daily newspapers, online […]