Thirty-five years ago, C. P. Snow, in a now famous essay, wrote about the polarization of the "two cultures" -- literary intellectuals on the one hand, and scientists on the other. Although he hoped for the emergence of a "third culture" that would bridge
What makes a child decide to become a scientist?•For Robert Sapolsky–Stanford professor of biology–it was an argument with a rabbi over a passage in the Bible.•Physicist Lee Smolin traces his inspiration to a volume of Einstein’s work, picked up
Evolutionary science lies at the heart of a modern understanding of the natural world. Darwin’s theory has withstood 150 years of scientific scrutiny, and today it not only explains the origin and design of living things, but highlights the importance o
More than one hundred of the world's leading thinkers write about things they believe in, despite the absence of concrete proof.Scientific theory, more often than not, is born of bold assumption, disparate bits of unconnected evidence, and educated leaps
When John Brockman’s essay, “The New Humanists” appeared on his popular cutting-edge science website, EDGE (www.edge.org), he received a record number of responses from the intellectuals of the EDGE community. In his essay, Brockman noted that the A
Unlock your mindFrom the bestselling authors of Thinking, Fast and Slow; The Black Swan; and Stumbling on Happiness comes a cutting-edge exploration of the mysteries of rational thought, decision-making, intuition, morality, willpower, problem-solving, pr
Drawing from the horizons of science, today's leading thinkers reveal the hidden threats nobody is talking about—and expose the false fears everyone else is distracted by.What should we be worried about? That is the question John Brockman, publisher of
The newest addition to John Brockman's Edge.org series explores life itself, bringing together the world's leading biologists, geneticists, and evolutionary theorists--including Richard Dawkins, Edward O. Wilson, J. Craig Venter, and Freeman Dyson.Scienti
