Category: ideas

“Science is painting a dramatic picture of how childhood neglect damages developing brains, so stunting them that neglect might be likened to physically violent abuse.”

Errol Morris: “Janet Malcolm says that trying to discern MacDonald’s guilt or innocence from the evidence he sent her is like trying to prove the existence of God by looking at a flower. But the existence of God is taken on faith. The innocence or guilt of a criminal defendant is not. Period.”

“We applaud people for their work ethic, judge our economy by its productivity and even honor work with a national holiday. But there’s an underlying ambivalence: we celebrate Labor Day by not working, the Book of Genesis says work is punishment for Adam’s sin, and many of us count the days to the next vacation and see a contented retirement as the only reason for working.”

“This argument is almost as old as addiction research itself. From the field’s beginnings in the early 20th century, two factions have been at war: those convinced that addiction is about an uncontrollable physiological response to a substance, a ‘disease’ that needs to be treated under a medical model, and those who think it is simply a sign of weak moral character.”

Ig Nobel founder and emcee Marc Abrahams explains the awards and names some of his favorites: the discovery of homosexual necrophilia in ducks; the use of magnets to levitate a frog; the study titled “An Analysis of the Forces Required to Drag Sheep Across Various Surfaces.” (He also clues us in on the Ig Nobels’ secret weapon: Miss Sweetie Poo.)

“In two experiments, people’s attitudes became less polarized if they read a short article in a difficult-to-decipher font. The lack of ease apparently forced them to slow down and use more brain power to understand the text. This, in turn, increased the likelihood that they would respond to the material with an open mind.”

“We’re on the verge of the next generation of services driven by open data, which will involve everything from energy to health care to consumer finance to transit sectors. The challenge is that the cities and federal agencies that hold vast amounts of data may not always understand the value of the information they hold or how to create or sustain businesses using it.”

“Marc Abrahams is an evangelist for science with a sense of humor. Founder of The Annals of Improbable Research and the accompanying Ig Nobel prizes, his new book is called This is Improbable: Cheese string theory, magnetic chickens, and other WTF research. He has spent the last 23 years looking for research that makes people laugh – and then makes them think.”

“While Mr. Obama’s linguistic flexibility is a political asset, his style-shifting is not without its critics. There are some who read his ‘chameleon-like’ speaking skills as not quite authentic, or as slightly patronizing — a sort of linguistic pandering.”

“Hacking can, and often does, improve products. It exposes vulnerabilities, supplies innovations, and demonstrates both what is possible and what consumers want. … Hacking has also become a method used for extortion, public humiliation, business disruption, intellectual property theft, espionage, and, possibly, war.”