The greatest pleasure in science comes from theories that derive the solution to some deep puzzle from a small set of simple principles in a surprising way.
Strange maps may be found hiding in antique atlases or down some of the internet’s more obscure cul-de-sacs [1]. But sometimes, curious cartography greets you on your very doorstep, hand-delivered by servants of the commonwealth.
“Pundits and industry insiders expect smart cities to become a sizable market, with projections of nearly $40 billion spent on smart-cities technologies by 2016. (...) smart cities will in the future be attractive to the educated work force and will therefore become real-estate gold.”
Richard Feynman talks about "beauty". The Feynman Series is a companion project of The Sagan Series working in the hopes of promoting scientific education and scientific literacy in the general population.
To prevent an economic disaster in 2008, world states spent 2,000 billion dollars to save a number of banks from bankruptcy. How did the bankers’ problem turn into OUR problem?
It was just over two centuries ago that the global population was 1 billion — in 1804. But better medicine and improved agriculture resulted in higher life expectancy for children, dramatically increasing the world population, especially in the West.