From TED, Freeman Dyson on looking for life in the outer solar system. Great minds think (too much) alike: Is the web narrowing scientists’ expertise? Using the internet to search for scientific articles is bad for researchers, says sociologist James Evans. The general who investigated Abu Ghraib now says the Bush administration is guilty of war crimes — but will anyone take notice? Has the "surge" in Iraq worked? Immanuel Wallerstein investigates. More and more and more and more on Soldiers of Reason: The RAND Corporation and the Rise of the American Empire by Alex Abella. What the past term reveals about the Roberts Court: Evidence that the Court is disturbingly elitist and anti-democratic. From Esquire, an article on the Battle of Newark, starring Cory Booker (and a response by Booker). Prominent women are one-third less likely to be encouraged to run for office than prominent men. An article on Edward O. Wilson on ants and human social evolution. A review of A Nation of Wimps: The High Cost of Invasive Parenting by Hara Estroff Marano (and more and more and more). From Minding The Campus, Charlotte Allen on mandatory summer reading. Why do Asian students generally get higher marks than Latinos? More on The Dumbest Generation by Mark Bauerlein. An anthropologist studies the “recursive public” of programmers; Scott McLemee gets his nerd on.
