I’m sad to say that most of the scientific material in this book of excerpts from Einstein’s publications and speeches, material aimed at a general audience, went right over my head. Much more interesting were the discussions of such topics as religion and science, international peace, nuclear war, and Germany, Israel, and the Jewish people. […]

Saw an article about a supposed breakthrough converting solar power into (basically) hydrogen fuel cells. It’s good to see this. One of the common criticisms of hydrogen fuel cells is that they aren’t actually a source of power, just a method of storing it. So if you want to make a hydrogen fuel cell, you’ve […]

Theories cannot be proven, but you can tell a theory is on to something when it can make predictions which can themselves be proven. Score another point for evolution, one of the best ideas ever:

Dr. Harvey Karp, author of “The Happiest Baby on the Block”, says it’s all about understanding their psychology:
For instance, a toddler throwing a tantrum over a cookie might wail, “I want it. I want it. I want cookie now.”
Often, a parent will adopt a soothing tone saying, “No, honey, you have to wait until after […]

I love TED- here’s an amazing video about what some of our closest relatives, the Bonobos, can do when pushed to their limits:

Check out the end- proof of the universal appeal of video games.

You’ll know you’re watching a good episode of Battlestar Galactica when you’re standing and screaming at the screen, jaw halfway to the floor, incredulous that anything so unbelievable could be put on television.
Finally- the Battlestar Galactica premiere debuted last Friday and it blew my fucking socks off. I don’t want to potentially spoil anything, so […]

Great article in the Times about how our brains are hard-wired, not just for retaliation against injury, but for disproportionate retaliation. Regarding a psychological experiment where test subjects were instructed to lightly push each other over and over again with equal force:
What began as a game of soft touches quickly became a game of moderate […]

I just got back from seeing Al Gore’s new movie about global warming, An Inconvenient Truth (check out the trailer). On the way back, my roomates and I were discussing how excellent it was; the film is enormously informative and persuasive, but it is also very entertaining, which is saying a lot when you consider […]