top stories
February 22, 2012
Views Reviews and Interviews
Explaining Liberals to Conservatives, and Vice-Versa
Psychologist Jonathan Haidt can tell you why you feel so righteous about your politics, but will you listen?
February 21, 2012
Business & Economics
Christchurch Still Shaken By Quake One Year Later
A deadly earthquake that devastated Christchurch, New Zealand, a year ago still has policymakers asking what should be the city’s next step as it rebuilds and redesigns.
February 20, 2012
March-April 2012
Will Nigeria’s ‘Airport City’ Dreams Take Flight?
Developers and politicians hope a new airport-cum-city near the African nation’s capital will bring some stability — and respect — to the troubled region.
February 17, 2012
Science
Is Radiation Actually Good For Some of Us?
By age 10, most people are exposed to enough radiation to be at risk, but the science is so complicated that exposure could even have benefits.
February 16, 2012
Environment
Can Farmed Fish Flourish on a Veggie Diet?
It’s a fish-eat-fish world out there, which is bad news for ailing fisheries providing feedstock for aquaculture. If only some key dinner-table species were vegetarians, smaller fish would be spared.
February 15, 2012
Science
A Possible Solution for Space Junk
Swiss scientists plan to send a “janitor satellite” into orbit to attempt to clean up space debris.
February 15, 2012
The Idea Lobby
Surplus Government Property: Homeless Help vs. Revenue
Turning unloved federal property into homeless services centers has been federal law for a quarter century, but tough times have bureaucrats hoping to shove that tradition into the cold.
February 14, 2012
Findings
Fear Heightens Appreciation of Abstract Art
Does abstract art fail to evoke a profound emotional response? Try viewing it while you’re terrified.
February 14, 2012
Skeptic's Café
Presidents’ Day: Just Another Presidential Fable
A number of folk stories and a few divisive rumors have surrounded the office of the U.S. presidency, and skeptical folks like us check a few of them out.
February 13, 2012
Findings
Oxytocin Levels Predict Longevity of Love Affairs
New research links levels of the “cuddle hormone” with falling, and staying, in love.
February 13, 2012
Science
Protein Data Bank Deposits Are Life’s Building Blocks
A four-decade project to catalog the basic structures used to build life pays dividends for everything from new drugs to Bjork’s performances.
February 10, 2012
The Idea Lobby
Gender Wage Gap Skewed By Survey Flaws
The wage gap between the sexes in America has been closing much faster than anyone realized, but that’s tempered by learning it’s been much wider than measurements had shown.
February 9, 2012
Legal Affairs
‘Orcas as Slaves’ Argument Sinks
An effort to identify five performing orcas as slaves failed in part, argues one scholar, because there’s no legal precedent establishing them as persons.
February 9, 2012
Findings
The Perceived Delicacy of the Female Conductor
New research finds listeners judge symphonic music differently when they’re told the conductor is a woman.
February 9, 2012
Business & Economics
Prop Planes: The Future of Eco-Friendly Aviation?
Propellers’ role in flight date back to the dawn of engine-driven aviation. But the next generation of propeller-driven aircraft engines will put their rotors back in the spotlight.
most viewed
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Fear Heightens Appreciation of Abstract Art
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Was Lou Gehrig's ALS Caused by Tap Water?
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The Perceived Delicacy of the Female Conductor
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Is Radiation Actually Good For Some of Us?
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Are Some Airlines Just Too Dangerous to Fly?
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Announcing Our New Name
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Oxytocin Levels Predict Longevity of Love Affairs
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Bitter About Your Life? Blame Facebook
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Japan's Earthquake: Deciphering the Fury
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Presidents’ Day: Just Another Presidential Fable
findings
Text Messages No Substitute for Mother’s VoiceA study finds girls’ stress levels decrease after speaking with mom, but not after text messaging.
Long-Term Love Not Just a Fairy TaleA new study finds nearly three-quarters of Americans remain “very in love” after a decade of marriage.
Portraits Can Get Your Pulse PoundingNew research recording physiological reactions of museum-goers suggests we respond to art with our bodies as well as our brains.
Female Pop Stars: Prepare to DisrobeAn analysis of Rolling Stone magazine covers finds female artists are increasingly sexualized and presented as sex objects.
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moments in video
Why Do Lobbyists Have the Veto?Video: Miller-McCune hosts a panel at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., asking, “Why Do Lobbyists Have the Veto?”
Desperately Seeking LandminesDespite years of research on everything from ‘HeroRATS’ to TNT-sniffing bees, humans still remove most landmines by poking — very, very carefully — in the ground.
Songs and Ads: Ten Infamous ExamplesHere’s 10 examples of songs turned into ads, all influential, some successful.
‘One Dream’ Meets ‘I Have a Dream’American documentary makers bring Martin Luther King to Beijing — and back.
A Call to Reform Congress“Changing Congress: Lessons Learned by a Copyright Activist” a presentation by Lawrence Lessig.
‘Orphan Film’ Selections From the ArchivesThese 10 ephemeral works from the last century provide a fascinating window into our culture of the past — for better or, oftentimes, for worse.
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podcasts
Ecosystems Secretly Protect Against Lyme Disease
Lizards, it seems, are good at keeping ticks free of Lyme disease, which suggests that a ecosystem that benefits lizards (and other creatures) ultimately benefits humankind, ecologist Cherie Briggs explains in this podcast.
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Download the podcast (right-click or option-click).Listen to more Curiouser and Curiouser podcasts.
from the blogs
Swiss scientists plan to send a “janitor satellite” into orbit to attempt to clean up space debris.
New international measures to end fish poaching on the high seas would enforce laws where the poacher calls, not where their ships are registered.
New research finds support for school projects differs according to the race and age of the recipients.
While it’s not a bad idea to pay attention to the various costs of your medical care, the president of the Center for Advancing Health argues that haggling over costs is not a long-term solution to spiraling expenses.
Like other great figures, new writings about Mohandas Gandhi tell us something about the subject but perhaps more about our times.
South Africa’s painful journey from white minority domination to democracy, and the roles played by the rest of the world, is chronicled in a five-part documentary airing on PBS.
Recent scholarship and popular journalism both suggest an unappealing future for American boys: You’re screwed.
A number of folk stories and a few divisive rumors have surrounded the office of the U.S. presidency, and skeptical folks like us check a few of them out.
Once seen as non-ideological “universities without students,” the American think tank has, in many cases, become a partisan stalking horse that devalues the sector’s scholarship.
Sports fans control more of what happens on the court or on the field than they realize. Now if they could just applaud good decisions over flashy bad ones.
Researchers propose pulling patients out of anesthesia with “a shot of adrenaline to the brain.”
Shunned in the past as trumping mitigation, the issue of climate adaptation is now receiving serious attention.
