The classic detective game of CLUE™ has taught the world many things — that a candlestick is a deadly weapon, for one — but this might be taking things a bit far: Duke University engineers, writing in the journal IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, say the game can teach robots how to navigate minefields and find hidden explosives. (Put a picture of that on the box cover, Hasbro.) "One night we were playing CLUE™ at the kitchen table, and it struck me," said Sylvia Ferrari, director of Duke's Laboratory for Intelligent Systems and Controls, in a press release ... Read More
An Economy of Change
April 28, 2009 • By • 1 Comment
This spinogram depicts U.S. gross domestic product, divided into constituent sources. Column widths are proportional to a year's real GDP, and each sector's contribution to GDP is reflected in box height. Color intensity varies with historical relative magnitude of a sector's contribution to GDP. Clearly shown is the service sector's 25-year rise to dominance, paralleling a drop in the importance of manufacturing and increasing transportation production in periods of high energy prices. Numbers in billions of dollars. Key to abbreviations: • Agriculture, forestry and fishing • ... Read More
Morals Authority
April 27, 2009 • By • 15 Comments
Jonathan Haidt is hardly a road-rage kind of guy, but he does get irritated by self-righteous bumper stickers. The soft-spoken psychologist is acutely annoyed by certain smug slogans that adorn the cars of fellow liberals: "Support our troops: Bring them home" and "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism." "No conservative reads those bumper stickers and thinks, 'Hmm — so liberals are patriotic!'" he says, in a sarcastic tone of voice that jarringly contrasts with his usual subdued sincerity. "We liberals are universalists and humanists; it's not part of our morality to highly value ... Read More
We Are Accused of Over-cheerfulness
April 24, 2009 • By • 15 Comments
Whoever told you to mail me a free copy of Miller-McCune certainly had their insider information right. I've spent most of the day reading almost all the great articles. I love your compassion, optimism, realism, worldwide perspective and data-based and solution-based approach. I intend to subscribe tomorrow. I do have a disappointment, however, and I think I understand your reasoning. You do not wish to emphasize the dangers of population growth because it does not lead to any cheerful solutions. Colleen Shaddox points out ("Simply Rwandan," March-April) that Rwanda, the size of ... Read More
Leon Botstein: In It for the Duration
April 23, 2009 • By • 2 Comments
In his 34 years as president of Bard College, Leon Botstein has morphed from wunderkind to elder statesman of higher education. The son of physicians, he studied history with Hannah Arendt at the University of Chicago and earned his doctorate at Harvard before being named president of Franconia College in 1970 when he was just 23. He took the helm at Bard, in upstate New York, five years later. Botstein has bolstered Bard's performing arts program while recruiting prestigious faculty and creating new graduate programs. He has experimented with restructuring secondary education, started a ... Read More
A History in the Making
April 22, 2009 • By • 2 Comments
The renowned American-Indian writer, historian, theologian, professor and activist Vine Deloria Jr. once posed a question: "Did they ever think of asking the Indians?" Deloria was referring to the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, administered from the top down, like so many programs that have charted the course of Indian life in the United States. But he could have been talking about just about any encounter Indians have had with the federal government. It's surprising just how little is known — or understood — about American Indians beyond the Hollywood stereotype of noble savage and ... Read More
Lessons From the Reverse Engineering of Nature
April 20, 2009 • By • Leave a Comment
On the Significance of Species Beginning in the mid-1980s with evolutionary biologist and writer Stephen J. Gould, the University of Minnesota has invited world-renowned speakers to give public addresses in a lecture series named for the university's longtime president and Graduate School dean, Guy Stanton Ford. In 1994, I had just started as assistant professor in the department of ecology, evolution and behavior when I was thrilled to discover that the speaker for that year would be Richard Dawkins, another famous evolutionary biologist and writer. I joined the hundreds in the packed ... Read More
A Government at Risk?
April 19, 2009 • By • Leave a Comment
America is in real trouble. Just not for the reasons you think. Two Boston College political science professors, Robert Faulkner and ... Read More
Study in Contrepreneurship
April 18, 2009 • By • Leave a Comment
With a last, anxious glance at the notes in his hand, Mike Nagle launches into his pitch. "Hi, I'm the owner and founder of Amp Welding Service, where we fit it right and weld it tight," begins the tall, muscular Nagle, his weight shifting from foot to foot. "We're a welding company serving the oil and natural gas industry." Nagle barrels along into a breakdown of the business' revenue model as Catherine Rohr, looking every inch the corporate professional in her perfectly creased pinstriped pants and white shirt, takes careful notes. The presentation — which aims to get investment for ... Read More
The Salt Mine Solution
April 16, 2009 • By • Leave a Comment
The "nice" elevator is right out of a luxury hotel with a smooth ride and room for 75 people. It has six degrees of safety redundancy, which means that if one cable were to snap, several others, plus an emergency brake or two, would prevent the six of us from hurtling to our deaths. But just as I'm adjusting the self-rescuer respirator on my utility belt, we get the news: There's a problem with the "nice" elevator. We have to take the salt shaft. The "other" elevator is really a glorified cage pulled along a single cable through a vertical salt shaft; it has one level of redundancy and ... Read More
