Social Science
-
Hair Raiser
November 20, 2009
Malcolm Gladwell and Steven Pinker duel over balancing scientific rigor with relatable narrative, while the future of personal genomics goes under the microscope.
biotechnology, communication, social science, week in review
-
Perfect Strangers
November 16, 2009
The eerie emotional response brought on by near-duplicates of our selves raises interesting questions about perception and expectations.
-
Altruism vs. Selfishness
September 26, 2009
The idea that evolution explains selfishness well and altruism poorly is starting to stink. Can we please bury it now?
-
Survival of the Kindest
September 24, 2009
In his new book, The Age of Empathy, Frans de Waal outlines an alternative to “Nature, red in tooth and claw.” Can a vision of a more empathic world change the way we behave toward each other?
-
Designing Responsible Behavior
August 24, 2009
We visit the somewhat chaotic desk of an industrial designer who is leveraging the power of design to convince people to live greener lives.
decision making, design, innovation, social science, workbench
-
Truth or Lies
August 17, 2009
A new study raises the question of whether being honest is a conscious decision at all.
-
Did Cooking Make Us Human?
June 09, 2009
A new book argues that cooked food is the key to our evolution. Did it also enable pair bonding and the concept of ownership?
-
The New Interface of Governance
June 02, 2009
If we can just tweak the way we make choices, we can make smarter ones. A look at Obama’s plans to put the science of human nature to work.
-
The Last Experiment
April 22, 2009
It’s up to social science to make us act in an environmentally conscious way. But can we trick ourselves into saving ourselves?
-
Pathological Liars’ Brains Physically Different
September 30, 2005
-
Behavioral Mimicry Makes the Heart Grow Fonder
September 30, 2005
Now on SEEDMAGAZINE.COM
-
Innovation
Let There Be Light
Astronomers will soon find scores of Earth-sized exoplanets, but imaging them may be decades away. That is, unless NASA decides to build a starshade.
-
Ideas
Into the Uncanny Valley
New findings shed light on a century’s worth of bizarre explanations for the eerie feeling we get around lifelike robots.
-
World
Signs from Above
The release of an apocalyptic movie prompts NASA to debunk planetary rumors, fowl play shuts down the LHC, and the Catholic Church discusses alien life.
