Politics & Current Affairs — January 18, 2011

Iran: Why We Are On Alert

Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator tells Spiegel about the dangers of waging cyber warfare against Iran’s nuclear facilities and the West’s false expectations for upcoming talks.

bigthinkeditor

The general secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Saeed Jalili, talks to Spiegel about allegations that Israel assassinated nuclear scientists in Tehran, the dangers of waging cyber warfare against Iran’s nuclear facilities and the West’s false expectations for upcoming negotiations in Istanbul. SPIEGEL: Do you really not worry…that the days of Iran’s theocracy are numbered? Jalili: I can only laugh in response. For the last 30 years, our enemies have predicted our demise every six months. Anyone betting on those predictions has lost. The Islamic Republic cannot be shaken by anything or anyone.

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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Culture & Religion

Multiculturalism Undoes Diversity’s Good

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