Politics & Current Affairs — October 22, 2009

Bailout Bonus Cuts

The White House is pushing for 50 per cent pay cuts for biggest bailed-out companies.

“The Obama administration will soon order the nation’s biggest bailed-out companies to drastically cut pay packages for their top executives, a senior administration official confirmed to CNN Wednesday. Kenneth Feinberg, who was named the White House’s pay czar in June, will demand that the seven largest bailout recipients lower the total compensation for their top 25 highest paid employees by 50 per cent, on average, the official told CNN. For the past two months, Feinberg has been reviewing pay plans at Citigroup (C, Fortune 500), AIG (AIG, Fortune 500), Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500), General Motors, Chrysler, GMAC and Chrysler Financial in an effort to put these firms in a position to pay back bailout money as soon as possible.”

Starts With A Bang

The unsurprising non-detection of intelligent aliens

Life arose on Earth very early on. After a few billion years, here we are: intelligent and technologically advanced. Where's everyone else?

A person in a dark robe wielding a glowing red lightsaber on a desert dune under a night sky with a large crescent moon and a visible planet.

High Culture

Does science fiction shape the future?

Six visionary science fiction authors on the social impact of their work.

A human brain preserved in a clear glass container filled with a yellowish preserving fluid, set against a bright, light green background.

13.8

The key problem with the “brain in a vat” thought experiment

Even with the best technology imaginable, you'd probably never be able to exist as a consciously aware brain in a vat.

A dramatic solar eclipse with a radiant ring of fire visible around the moon, set against a backdrop of clouds and a sunburst.

13.8

A cosmic coincidence: What eclipses tell us about Earth

Total eclipses are a product of a strange and almost eerie cosmic coincidence — one that makes Earth an even rarer world in the galaxy and, by proxy, in the Universe.

Starts With A Bang

If photons have mass, could they explain dark matter?

Our Universe requires dark matter in order to make sense of things, astrophysically. Could massive photons do the trick?

Up Next

Technology & Innovation

Hacked Off

In these ‘lean times’ media agencies are angered by journalist’s living it large all-expenses-paid.