Technology & Innovation — November 19, 2009

Media News Roundup

The Guardian says it’s a bad idea for the the Times of London to build a paywall by next spring.

Spectator Magazine (UK) only lost 3% of readers after putting its content behind a paywall, but realize they serve a more niche audience than general newspapers.

Still, a survey by the Boston Consulting Group found that many are willing to pay for access to online news.

Plus, the Literary Review 2009 bad-sex-in-fiction prize has chosen its nominees. You’ll be hard up to find more titillating entertainment (or not).

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

—

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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