Crossposted from Super Concepts.  In the past, many scientific discoveries and technological solutions have come from a non related source of information. From Archimedes’ realisation in the bath, to the accidental discovery of penicillin, history is full of occasions where going outside the subject in question has provided answers to ...

It seems that traditional cultures have their "eternal verities" - things that seem to be immutably true about fundamental aspects of the human condition. I put the words "eternal verities" in scare quotes because some of these things may not be verities at all, and certainly not eternal ones. And they won't be ...

Analyzing some of the darker aspects of human behavior and traits.

Accepting his 2008 TED Prize, physicist Neil Turok speaks out for talented young Africans starved of opportunity: by unlocking and nurturing the continent's creative potential, we can create a change in Africa's future. Turok asks the TED community to help him expand the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences by opening 15 new centers ...

In March 2002, the scientific world was rocked by some astonishing news: a distinguished US government scientist claimed he had made nuclear fusion out of sound waves in his laboratory. Rusi Taleyarkhan's fusion breakthrough was based on a little-understood process called sonoluminescence. It's a process that magically transforms sound ...

At the annual AAAS meeting in Boston, representatives from Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama's campaigns talked to scientists about how they would deal with different science and technology issues. It would be nice to see the candidates themselves talk about science and technology issues. Science Debate 2008

Efforts by scientists to organize a presidential debate focusing on scientific issues and future technology development and ethics.

MIT president Hockfield; TED founder Chris Anderson; Director of National Science Foundation Bement

(Crossposted from Metamagician and the Hellfire Club.)  Now <a href="http://www.eurekalert.org:80/pub_releases/2008-02/uow-rca021108.php">this story </a>is really weird. Apparently, most Americans reject the morality of nanotechnology on religious grounds. At least that's the inference drawn by Dietram Scheufele, a ...

Trailer of ''Ciao Robot - The birth of Roboethics''. Ciao Robot is a documentary which deals with the relationship between science and society, between man and machine. (www.ciaorobot.org) Speaking of robots and ethics, here's a different twist. Thanks to member Churchill for the link.