This week's Economist cover focuses on the growing importance of latin america. The clever illustration shows latin america on the northern hemisphere and the USA on the southern hemisphere. It reminds me of this vintage scene in "The West Wing",...

http://lisnews.org/how_open_new_book Here's a lovely illustration of how to open a new book. In the days of nook and kindle and ipad, such illustrations may soon become archaic. Already, I look at them the way I regard cave paintings (how to...

There are those that think automating humor is nothing more than a big joke.And then there are those that think its an incredulous waste of money.NU prof: Computer research no joke :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: TechnologyAnd then there those that believe its a way of modelling the way the brain works.And then there are those that like me, who feel a little disconcerted thinking of a day when we're going to be so dependent on computers for even a quick joke.Humour is possibly a recently evolved trait and therefore more susceptible to erosion.What if all that's left of humans is the ability to understand jokes but not be able to actually make a joke. It can happen!What if computers ( cloud, cluster) take over the world by telling...

This Comment if Free article at the Guardian talks about how buzz-words can trick us into believing the wrong sort of thing. "But then, that's the beauty of language. It can change the way you see things without actually altering anything in the physical realm. It turns good into bad and bad into good and back again without anyone lifting a finger." And the NyTimes takes a more pedantic approach. NY Times explains how the words we use to describe the world may affect the way we perceive our world. "The habits of mind that our culture has instilled in us from infancy shape our orientation to the world and our emotional responses to the objects we encounter, and their consequences probably go far beyond what has been...

Grub, is a diner in Brooklyn where meals are made from food that would have otherwise been wasted. A place where the menu can never can get too boring, or the history of the ingredients too intrigui...

My current addiction : Reading op-eds. And I love theatlanticwire.com for rounding up opinion articles across the web. The Atlantic, is understandably biased towards covering issues of concern in the United Issues. In the largest democracy of the world, I've found it hard to come across a one-stop shop for opinions. Blogs at Outlook India does a decent job of it and so far, I am loving ...

Dr Marc Hauser, a primate psychologist, has recently been charged with 8 counts of scientific misconduct by Harvard University. I wrote to Dr Marc Hauser while applying to grad school and for what its worth, he was a thorough gentleman. There was no need for him to reply to a student that was clueless about neuroscience. He was clearly interested in teaching. He, and his papers, were instrumental in initiating my journey into neuroscience. They never failed to convey a sense of possibility. But, I have long since diverged from his particular area of expertise. Dr Marc Hauser has recently been charged with scientific misconduct. A lot of his science consists of observing monkeys by only ever so slightly changing the...