1. It's Einstein's fault that you need your phone to know where the heck you are. At least, indirectly — GPS would never have been invented without the theory of relativity, explains Hiawatha Bray of the Boston Globe.
2. The quintessential genius of the 20th century had trouble getting a job teaching high school. Before he reached fame and success, Albert Einstein faced a whole lot of failure, according to biographer Walter Isaacson.
3. IQ tests have been used to support the case for eugenics, and to justify thousands of sterilizations. Clinical psychologist Elaine Castles tells the history of how we measure intelligence — and why it's not all it's cracked up to be.
As we look at the lasting influence of Albert Einstein, there’s one legacy that isn’t felt in our iPhone’s GPS or in the way we view intelligence. No, this one is felt in a galaxy far, far away. Read More...
There was a time Albert Einstein couldn’t get a job teaching high school math. Biographer Walter Isaacson takes a look at Einstein’s remarkable life, and tells us why being an outsider and underdog might have helped him be even more of a genius. Read More...
We might put Albert Einstein up on a pedestal as the quintessential genius. But author David Shenk and psychologist Elaine Castles argue that the way we've defined intelligence is all wrong. Read More...
Using a physical map to find your way around? That's so, like, ten years ago. Tech writer Hiawatha Bray examines the science and history that gave us GPS — and how we owe some of that to Einstein. Read More...
Amanda Gefter used to think science was boring. That was before she debated the meaning of nothing in a Chinese restaurant and snuck into a physics conference with her dad. Gefter reflects on her unusual journey towards writing about science. Read More...
1. More people would turn in their taxes if the government went ahead and filled out the forms for them. Richard Thaler, a behavioral economist, tells us the counterintuitive things he’s learned by studying our deeply irrational behavior.
2. A militia in Iraq built a machine-gunning ground drone that they can control with a tablet. Former Air Force pilot Missy Cummings and author Peter Singer discuss the future of war and robotic conflict.
3. There’s a way to see if the grass really is greener on the other side of the cubicle, without your boss ever finding out. Tom Leung, CEO of Poachable, explains the rise of the anonymous job hunt.
Even if you’re pretty happy with the job you have, you still might want to see if there’s anything better. CEO Tom Leung talks about Poachable, his anonymous online talent marketplace that lets you look for cool new jobs, without your boss finding out — and lets companies find the right match as well. Read More...
The basic components of human conflict may never change, but the way we fight certainly will. Peter Singer, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation, and Missy Cummings, director of Duke's Humans and Autonomy Lab, explain how developing technologies like robots and hacking are radically transforming the way America goes to war. Read More...
Ever wondered why you kept throwing good money after bad at the poker table? Or why people buy cars with super-high interest rates? Richard Thaler, a founding father of behavioral economics, takes us through the "logic" behind bad decisions, and the surprising ways our irrationality changes the entire economy. Read More...
