Identity
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Women Would Lead a More Peaceful World
about 21 hours ago
What's the Latest Development? Were more women in positions of political power, the Earth would be a more peaceful place, says former secretary of defense Joseph Nye. Referencing Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker's latest book, Nye says women's evolutionary role in society has emphasized skills ... Read More
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Brains Are Automatic, But People Are Free
1 day ago
What's the Big Idea? Michael Gazzaniga, one of the world's leading researchers in cognitive neuroscience, describes the mystery of free will: “If you think about it this way, if you are a Martian coming by earth and looking at all these humans and then looking at how they work you wouldn’t—it ... Read More
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Your Brain is Automatic. You Are Free.
1 day ago
Michael Gazzaniga, one of the world's leading researchers in cognitive neuroscience, argues, "We can understand brains to the nth degree, but that's not going to in any way interfere with the fact that taking responsibility in a social network is done at a social level. So the way I sum it up is that brains are automatic, but people are free because people join social groups" -- and those groups dictate the laws to live by. Read More
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Is Your Boss a Robot? Here's How to Tell.
3 days ago
What's the Latest Development? At the annual Loebner Prize Competition, robots and humans compete to convince judges they are actually human. Imagine your boss took part. Would his or her communication style qualify as robotic or human? If during a discussion, your boss responds to the last ... Read More
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Paul Ryan, Individual Liberty, and the Fate of Medicare
6 days ago
Just as Mitt Romney appears to be wrapping up the Republican nomination for the presidency, congressional Republicans are taking steps to set up their own political framework for the 2012 election. In short, the future of Medicare is on the line and a Romney vs. Obama match-up will surely address ... Read More
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What Makes the Human Mind Unique?
8 days ago
What's the Latest Development? New research has shed light onto the mystery of our own minds. Specifically, why the human mind is so superior to those of even monkeys and chimps, our closest animal relatives. A team of German scientists has extracted brain cells, post mortem, from people, chimps ... Read More
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Who's More Creative? Introverts or Extroverts?
8 days ago
What's the Latest Development? Extroverts and introverts are not different in the ways we usually consider them to be. Introverts want lower-stimulation environments—less noise, less action—while extroverts crave stimulation to feel their best. Introverts may be very outgoing people, just as an ... Read More
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Thanks to Science, a Better Definition of Consciousness
8 days ago
What's the Latest Development? New research out of the UK suggests that a new classification system for consciousness will help doctors and families better understand the condition of individuals with brain injuries. By measuring the brain activity of patients in a vegetative state while they ... Read More
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Simon Doonan's Fashion Tips For Mad Scientists
9 days ago
What's the Big Idea? The hypercerebral – and particularly the math and science-minded – have an unfortunate reputation for being totally oblivious to personal appearance. While there are some obvious exceptions to this stereotype, society forgives self-neglect in the brainiac on the general ... Read More
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Simon Doonan's Fashion Tips For Mad Scientists
9 days ago
The hilarious swami of style and fashion egalitarian Simon Doonan, author of Gay Men Don't Get Fat, offers some efficient guidelines to personal style for the mad scientist whose mind is on loftier things. Read More
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Be Yourself. It Could Save Your Life.
9 days ago
Once, back in college, I declared war on a big, hideous yellow billboard that appeared one day on the previously harmless wall outside my apartment window. In the wee hours of a Saturday morning, a friend and I crept up to the building's roof and demolished the damn thing with oil-paint-filled ... Read More
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Prime Innovation Years? Middle Age, Not Youth.
10 days ago
What's the Latest Development? Despite the popular notion that somewhere there is a 20 year-old whose next idea will change everything, successful innovation gets better with age, says new Harvard research. Today, average and median age of the founders of successful U.S. technology businesses ... Read More
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Who's the Better Leader? Eli Manning or Tom Brady?
10 days ago
The Case for Eli Manning Leadership is about more than raw talent or personal style. Great leaders must mesh their own talents with the culture of the organization they lead. With Manning, the Giants tradition of toughness is amplified. "The Super Bowl will mark Manning's 130th consecutive start ... Read More
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The (Online) Rules of Friendship
13 days ago
What's the Latest Development? It is safe to say that online social networking has expanded the definition of 'friend'. Today, many of our important social distinctions are made under the umbrella of that word—Facebook friend, work friend, old friend, etc.—but the proliferation of 'friend' hasn ... Read More
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Latin America's Working Class Rising Up
14 days ago
What's the Latest Development? Sharp class divisions in Latin America are beginning to wane, say sociologists who observe the region. As a larger segment of society enters the middle class, working-class citizens—from parking attendants to construction workers to maids—are less tolerant of low ... Read More
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The Truth About Adderall & Ritalin
15 days ago
What's the Latest Development? Stimulant drugs like Ritalin and Adderall do not address the roots of the problems they claim to solve and claims about their effectiveness are based on bad science, says child psychologist L. Alan Sroufe. Since 1975, Sroufe has studied the development of hundreds ... Read More
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Can You Choose to Be Gay?
16 days ago
What's the Latest Development? Before 'Sex and the City' star Cynthia Nixon gave a prepared speech to a gay audience recently, organizers wanted to make changes where Nixon had written that she chose to be gay. In a follow up story, Nixon said: "A certain section of our community is very ... Read More
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Brain Bugs: Hallucinations, Forgotten Faces, and Other Cognitive Quirks
16 days ago
What's the Big Idea? If seeing is believing, then how do we come to know? One common misperception holds that vision springs directly from the eyes. True, the eyes, ears, and skin bombard us with a constant stream of information. But sensory input is only the first step in a complex journey ... Read More
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For a Healthy Brain, Play the Long Game
22 days ago
What's the Latest Development? Psychologists are learning that the brain stays agile well into middle age, retaining the ability to learn new skill sets and take on different points of view by building new neural connections. And nothing is more important to maintaining a healthy brain than ... Read More
