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LATEST ARTICLES ( 295 )

• Chomsky on The Philosopher’s Zone

  Listen to MIT Linguistics Professor Noam Chomsky on ABC's radio show The Philosopher's Zone (link here). Even at 87, he is still as razor sharp as ever. I've... Read more

  Posted on 30 March 2016 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Selection of the Week

  The Kyrie from Mozart's Great Mass in C minor, K427, played by the Chor und Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks conducted by Leonard Bernstein. The... Read more

  Posted on 26 March 2016 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Inequality, Spending, and GDP

  

  In this article in the New Republic, economists Alan Auerbach and Lawrence Kotlikoff give empirical evidence that the rich spend less in proportion to their... Read more

  Posted on 23 March 2016 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Worst Machine in the World

  

  I really hate leaf blowers. I think they are a huge waste of energy. They mostly make noise and heat and perform a task that a perfectly good tools (i.e. broom... Read more

  Posted on 18 March 2016 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Gravitational Waves Detected

  You have probably heard the news that gravitational waves have finally been directly detected. The Times has a nice summary. Also see Steve Hsu. Here is an... Read more

  Posted on 11 February 2016 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• How Income Inequality Can Affect GDP

  

  Since income inequality is a big issue in the United States and the upcoming election, I thought it would be instructive to look at how income inequality may... Read more

  Posted on 08 February 2016 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Selection of the Week

  

  A performance of Mozart's Table Music Duet for two violins. I think this piece best exemplifies the singular brilliance of Mozart. This piece consists of... Read more

  Posted on 05 February 2016 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• New Papers

  I have been negligent about posting new papers but here is a list. I'll expound on them in the future. Lee, J. J., Vattikuti, S. Chow, C. C. Uncovering the... Read more

  Posted on 28 January 2016 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• In Praise of MSG

  When I go to a Chinese restaurant, I am always disappointed when the menu says "No MSG." I used to be on the "MSG is bad" bandwagon too until I learned some... Read more

  Posted on 09 January 2016 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• The Nature of Evil

  In our current angst over terrorism and extremism, I think it is important to understand the motivation of the agents behind the evil acts if we are ever to... Read more

  Posted on 08 January 2016 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• The Problem with Sci Fi Movies

  I, like many people, enjoy science fiction films. The biggest problem I find in these fictional universes is not that sounds can propagate through space,... Read more

  Posted on 29 December 2015 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Phasers on Stun

  The recent controversy over police shootings of unarmed citizens has again stirred up the debate over gun control. However, Shashaank Vattikuti points out that... Read more

  Posted on 11 December 2015 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Optimizing Dynastic Succession Genetically

  

  The traditional rule for succession in a monarchy is to pass from father to son. Much of King Henry VIII's spousal folly was over his anxiety for producing an... Read more

  Posted on 25 November 2015 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Selection of the Week

  Here's a concert I wish I could have attended. A young Glenn Gould (greatest Bach interpreter since Bach although I heard Felix Mendelssohn was pretty good... Read more

  Posted on 20 November 2015 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• 2014 Reith Lectures by Atul Gawande

  Harvard surgeon and author Atul Gawande presented four BBC Reith Lectures in 2014 about various aspects of medicine. It is impossible to read or listen to... Read more

  Posted on 15 November 2015 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Are We in a Fusion Renaissance?

  Fusion is a potentially unlimited source of non-carbon emitting energy. It requires the mashing together of small nuclei such as deuterium and tritium to make... Read more

  Posted on 26 October 2015 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Proving I’m Me

  I have an extremely difficult time remembering the answers to my security questions for restoring forgotten passwords. I don't have an invariant favourite movie... Read more

  Posted on 19 October 2015 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Commentary on the Blue Brain Project

  Definitely read Christof Koch and Michael Buice's commentary on the Blue Brain Project paper in Cell. They nicely summarize all the important points of the pape... Read more

  Posted on 14 October 2015 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Big Blue Brain

  Appearing in this week's edition of Cell is a paper summarizing the current status of Henry Markram's Blue Brain Project. You can download the paper for free... Read more

  Posted on 12 October 2015 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Probability of Gun Death

  

  The tragedy in Oregon has reignited the gun debate. Gun control advocates argue that fewer guns mean fewer deaths while gun supporters argue that if citizens... Read more

  Posted on 06 October 2015 BIOLOGY, SCIENCE