Both eugenics and social Darwinism had their moments in their sun, the optimistic goal of progressive techno-elites 100 years ago who wanted to use science to make the world a better place.Sounds terrific, right? Isn't that what vaccines and genetically modified food do also? Indeed, but vaccines and GMOs are for all people and not against some, the way eugenics was. The...
read moreCan you be liable for damages if you didn't mean to do it? Can the pollution laws of one country be enforced in another? When it comes to politics and the environment, laws really only count when they are on your side, as we saw when Germans ironically declared it wrong for an American to dump iron dust in the ocean for a geo-engineering experiment, yet the same loophole was completely ethical...
read moreIt's a modern technology world. If you were running for president in 2008, you could just forgo public financing of your campaign and stick your opponent with a hard cap of half as much advertising money as you have - then you could spend as much money yourself as both candidates combined spent in 2004.But in 2012 everyone has unlimited money so outspending the other guy with campaign ads won't...
read morePhysics professor Paul Frampton of UNC Chapel Hill is sitting in an Argentine jail, busted for trying to smuggle out 2 kilos of cocaine, but that hasn’t stopped him from asking for a raise on his $107,000 annual salary - raise as in he wants it doubled.Hey, he has tenure. And a lot of citations.Frampton is in a spat with the school because he says they are improperly withholding his salary....
read moreThe stereotype of the mad, creative genius is well established - because it is firmly rooted in reality.A new study shows that bipolar disorder - e.g. manic depression - is more common among all groups that have artistic or scientific professions, from dancers and photographers to researchers and authors. Even mental patients’ relatives are more likely to have creative professions, according to...
read more