The Case for Blunders

Freeman Dyson The New Yorker
The essential point of Livio’s book is to show the passionate pursuit of wrong theories as a part of the normal development of science. Science is not concerned only with things that we understand. The most exciting and creative parts of science are concerned with things that we are still struggling to understand. Wrong theories are not an impediment to the progress of science. They are a central part of the struggle.

Most Segregated Schools in the Nation: NY

John Kucsera Civil Rights Project
Public school students in the state are increasingly isolated by race and class as the proportion of minority and poor students continues to grow.

Open Access Explained!

What is open access? A Piled Higher and Deeper (PhD) comic takes us through the world of open access publishing and explains just what it's all about.

Rumsfeld: The Unknown Known (Documentary)

In The Unknown Known, Academy Award-winning director Errol Morris (The Fof of War) offers a mesmerizing portrait of Donald Rumsfeld, who served as George W. Bush's secretary of defense and as the principal architect of the Iraq War.

Complications with Kiev

Victor Grossman Portside
Just watching staid Angela Merkel and stout Sigmar Gabriel trying to straddle the crevice - figuratively speaking - was quite a sight, no easy matter for the chancellor or the vice-chancellor, who is also head of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).

The Skills Zombie

Economist Paul Krugman The New York Times
Yet the skills story just keeps showing up in supposedly informed discussion. Again, I think that this is because it sounds like the kind of thing serious people should say.