George Dyson talks with Martin Eiermann about the definition of life, human progress, and the importance of cognitive autarchy.
Astronomers have found a way to measure the size of a black hole. Supermassive black holes reside at the center of galaxies and have gravitational forces so strong that nothing, including light, can escape from being pulled into them. By combining the power of radio dishes in three different states into a super-telescope 2,000 times…
Anthea Butler and others have quite appropriately drawn attention to and criticized conservative Christians who blame the Newtown tragedy on God’s absence from our schools. The problem with this approach, however, is that those who make such statements fully expect that they will be criticized and take smug pride in it. Author Metanexus Editors
David Gelernter, a pioneering computer scientist, foresaw the modern internet but thinks computers are still too hard to use Author Metanexus Editors
Cheeseburgers pack on the pounds, but in mice a high-fat diet also packs on new nerve cells in the brain. More brain cells may seem like a good thing, but these newly sprouted cells appear to trigger weight gain in the animals, a new study finds. The results offer insight into how the brain controls…
For all Il Papa’s social media encouragement the last few years, the Roman Catholic Church continues to struggle with digital ministry practice, particularly where new media intersects the Church’s medieval sacramental structure. In 2011, a new smartphone app aimed to support preparation for and the practice of confession ended up generating more confusion than contrition…
The year 2012 was a major one for science. We saw scientists develop a new type of drug to combat HIV, figure out how to store digital data in DNA—fitting an astonishing 700 terabytes of information into a single gram of it—and even invent a coating for the inside of condiment bottles that could eliminate…