Social Science
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On Governing by Design
February 01, 2011
We have only begun to tap into design’s real potential to serve as a tool for policymaking, governance, and social agendas. When used correctly, it can integrate innovation into people’s lives.
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Public Presence & Social Science
January 14, 2011
The social sciences deal with humanity’s most pressing problems, but there are barriers between practitioners and the public. We must restructure these disciplines from the ground up.
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On Overconfidence
January 07, 2011
Humans are overconfident creatures, which boosts our persistence, ambition, and drive—but can also lead to disasters. We can make such false beliefs work to our benefit.
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On Closing the Culture Gap
November 30, 2010
Climate change, biodiversity loss, nuclear conflict—all are caused by human activity. We need a way to reorganize and refocus the sciences and humanities with a “Millennium Assessment of Human Behavior.”
culture, global reset, physical science, population, public perception, social science
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The Second-Place Sex
November 19, 2010
Why chess may be an ideal laboratory for investigating gender gaps in science and beyond.
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Building Science Leaders
September 27, 2010
Pop!Tech launches an initiative to cultivate a new class of science leaders—young researchers with the skills and drive to reach out, communicate their science, and lead society towards evidence-based solutions.
climate, communication, food, leadership, network, policy, politics, social science
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Sexy Beasts
June 29, 2010
From vibrator sales to troubles with monogamy, evidence aboundsthat Homo sapiens is an exceedingly sexual species. A new book argues that understanding how this sexuality evolved helps to explain our unique creativity inside — as well as outside — the conjugal bedroom.
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Emotion’s Alchemy
March 30, 2010
New insights into the science of emotion unravel the seeming neurological magic that turns emotions into social expressions.
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Why Do We Believe?
March 10, 2010
Science is developing new insights into how religious beliefs may have evolved, but often the research brings up more questions than it answers.
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A Sober Assessment
March 03, 2010
Alcohol is an important part of life in many cultures throughout the world, but there are many misperceptions about this common social lubricant.
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Mosquito Noses and Baby Brains
February 23, 2010
In this week's Findings Log, we examine new research that studies mosquitoes' sense of smell, bilingual babies, brain-computer interfaces, and more.
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TV’s Unintended Consequences
December 23, 2009
The proliferation of passive sedentary activities like television viewing has led to inactive lifestyles and decreased physical fitness. But can TV positively affect health as well?
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Winds of Change
December 21, 2009
The stories we tell provide us with a record of our continuing struggle to understand the peculiar effects weather has on our lives.
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Search Me
December 11, 2009
Amid a roll-out of a number of new features, Google’s biggest change went largely unnoticed, even though it could further fragment our shared pool of knowledge.
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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.
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Perfect Strangers
November 16, 2009
The eerie emotional response brought on by near-duplicates of our selves raises interesting questions about perception and expectations.
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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?
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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?
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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.
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Truth or Lies
August 17, 2009
A new study raises the question of whether being honest is a conscious decision at all.
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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?
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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.
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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?
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I Can’t Believe It’s Science (for July 9, 2007)
July 10, 2007
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I Can’t Believe It’s Science (for June 18, 2007)
June 18, 2007
Now on SEEDMAGAZINE.COM
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Ideas
I Tried Almost Everything Else
John Rinn, snowboarder, skateboarder, and “genomic origamist,” on why we should dumpster-dive in our genomes and the inspiration of a middle-distance runner.
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Ideas
Going, Going, Gone
The second most common element in the universe is increasingly rare on Earth—except, for now, in America.
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Ideas
Earth-like Planets Aren’t Rare
Renowned planetary scientist James Kasting on the odds of finding another Earth-like planet and the power of science fiction.
