Love, Sex, and Happiness
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Article written by guest writer Rin Mitchell What’s the Latest Development? Researchers at the Center for Reproductive Health at the University of Edinburgh are testing a gene, which has been linked to infertility in men, to see how it could work as a contraceptive. The gene called Katnal1 is ... Read More
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What's the Latest Development? A little-known book on the virtues of laziness, written in 2006 by a medical doctor named Ray Bennett, is receiving some renewed attention for its serious discussion of purposeful mediocrity. In The Underachiever's Manifesto, Bennett demonstrates the power and ... Read More
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On Mother’s Day, in a sermon to his flock at the Providence Road Baptist Church in North Carolina, Pastor Charles Worley revealed his plan to rid America of its homosexuals: Build a great, big, large fence — 150 or 100 mile long — put all the lesbians in there....Do the same thing for the ... Read More
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It is gratifying when people see you just as you want to be seen. But don’t count on it. If you like to think of yourself as a gentle person of few words others may nevertheless find you boring and pathetic. You may like to think of yourself as curious and passionate about ideas, while others ... Read More
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Big Think hit the streets (the intersection of Wall & Broad, NYC) during the AM rush hour this Friday, May 18th with a guerilla theater piece for Facebook IPO day. It's a funny, poignant clash between worldviews on the cultural and economic implications of the rise of the social web. Facebook's ... Read More
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What's the Latest Development? Sexual boredom seems to be an unfortunate result of every long-term relationship, but why? Some say it's a sign of incompatibility, others say it demonstrates a weak imagination. Still others say sexual boredom results from our evolutionary biology, which works ... Read More
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What's the Latest Development? Fathers are increasingly present in their children's lives, according to Census Bureau statistics and academic research. Men are changing more diapers, driving kids to activities more often and providing a base of emotional support they might not have had from ... Read More
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Internet pioneer Jaron Lanier argues that free technologies like Facebook come with a hidden and heavy cost – the livelihoods of their consumers. Read More
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What’s the Big Idea? Facebook shares start trading today, at a price that will value the company at close to $100 billion, or roughly the 2011 GDP of Sudan. The difference between this and other comparably enormous initial public offerings is that Facebook's product, or service, is free. Its ... Read More
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What's the Latest Development? Being connected 24/7 increases productivity up to a point, says new research, but then it causes stress, disrupts life and actually decreases worker output. Statistics gathered by Harvard Business School professor Leslie Perlow indicate that workers "who had time ... Read More
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What’s the Big Idea? “Sex is more exciting on the screen and between the pages than between the sheets,” said Andy Warhol. It seems America agrees: adult entertainment is an estimated $10 billion dollar industry in the U.S., though the ethics of capturing and manufacturing sexual desire on ... Read More
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What's the Latest Development? An expert committee at the Food and Drug Administration has recommended that an antiviral drug trade-named Truvada be offered daily to uninfected people to prevent them from catching HIV. The drug, which combines two antiviral drugs called tenofovir and ... Read More
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What's the Latest Development? New research suggests that a misunderstanding between givers and receivers of gifts accounts for the taboo against regifting. In one experiment, 117 people said they would prefer to regive a gift than throw it away. In another experiment, conducted by researchers ... Read More
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What's the Latest Development? The words we pay the least attention to in conversation--connectors like 'the', 'this', 'there', 'and' and 'that'--reflect our sexual desire and our place in society, says U of Texas psychologist James Pennebaker. By analyzing conversations recorded during speed ... Read More
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Jason Silva is an optimist. With a capital O. His optimism hits you full force the moment you meet him – the broad, beaming grin, the reassuring handshake . . . no, before that, in the form of multiple enthusiastic exclamation points in his every email. More specifically, he’s optimistic about the ... Read More
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What's the Latest Development? In the decades to come, humans will begin patronizing robot-staffed brothels, say researchers from New Zealand’s University of Wellington, removing the guilt and social stigma associated with visiting flesh-and-blood prostitutes. Much of the technology needed to ... Read More
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What's the Latest Development? Sociological researchers have recently investigated why we are so careful not to tempt fate even though we readily admit to not believing in superstitious thinking. In a survey, a majority of respondents said that sporting a Stanford t-shirt just after applying to ... Read More
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What's the Latest Development? The sexual conservatism that gained ground during the second Bush administration has not been liberated by Obama's policies. While abstinence-only programs are slowly being removed, some issues, such as birth control rights, have recently gotten worse—much worse ... Read More
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Sonar is a mobile app that lets you know when friends and the friends of your friends are in your vicinity. The app uses information from networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Foursquare and alerts you when people in your vicinity share friends, acting like a good host. The idea here ... Read More
