Articles

Jack Andraka is not your typical cancer researcher. His first research project resulted in a non-invasive, simple, sensitive, and effective test for detecting pancreatic cancer. His test is 168 times faster than any currently available test; 26,000 times less expensive (that is not a typo); potentially 100 percent accurate; and…

Conservatives are against new taxes—unless they are for them. The unprincipled conservative approach is most recently illustrated by a February 14 release from the American Conservative Union (ACU) urging Congress to sanction Internet sales taxes. In the release, ACU president Al Cardenas says the federal government should allow states to…

Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, is a modern American hero. He has put millions of products ranging from books to movies to clothing to groceries within easy reach of millions of customers. But long before there was Amazon, before there was an internet or even computers, there was the…

Thomas Newcomen first developed his steam engine in 1712 to provide energy for pumping water out of Britain’s coal mines, enabling deeper, more-fruitful mining. Newcomen’s engine was the precursor to today’s coal-fired (steam) generating plants that, until just a few years ago, provided 50 percent of all electrical energy in…

Kudos to Jessica Chastain and Jason Clarke, actors in the Oscar-winning film Zero Dark Thirty, for bringing attention to the plight of Shakil Afridi, the doctor imprisoned in Pakistan for helping the United States locate and kill the terrorist Osama Bin Laden. As Fox News reports, Clarke said, “It’s wrong…

Congratulations to Anne Hathaway for taking home the Oscar for best supporting actress for her performance in the film Les Misérables. Congratulations to her also for correctly understanding the nature of sacrifice—and for refusing to describe her value-achieving actions with the term. Although many people describe hard work as a…

Last Sunday, the Light Brigade, headed by Alex Epstein of the Center for Industrial Progress (CIP), traveled to Washington DC to counter the Sierra Club’s “climate rally.” What was the Sierra Club & company’s target de jure? The Keystone XL Pipeline. What is their ultimate enemy? Industrial civilization and the…

The tragic case of the tainted medication produced by New England Compounding Center, which resulted in at least twenty-five deaths and hundreds sickened, highlights a little-recognized danger inherent in government regulation. As David Brown reported: “[Purchasing pharmaceuticals from compounding pharmacies is] like buying your electricity from a different supplier. It…

Starting in Scotland and England in the late 1700s and quickly expanding to America and beyond, the Industrial Revolution opened the floodgates of innovation and wealth creation, leading to rapidly improving living standard and increased life expectancy among the general population. But, as economist Charles Robertson writes for CNN, “Africa…

Senator Sherrod Brown (D) has called for breaking up America’s biggest banks. His Safe, Accountable, Fair & Efficient (SAFE) Banking Act would ostensibly “end ‘Too Big to Fail’ policies” while placing allegedly “sensible size limits on our nation’s large financial institutions.” Brown had previously teamed with Senator David Vitter (R)…

How do we maximize the likelihood of achieving our values and minimize little risks that can become big problems? In a recent article for the New York Times, anthropologist Jared Diamond points out that, as a 75-year-old man, one of the major risks in his life is falling in the…

Joseph Kellard reviews The Island at the Center of the World, by Russell Shorto.

Daniel Wahl reviews The Little Book of Talent: 52 Tips for Improving Your Skills, by Daniel Coyle.

Ari Armstrong reviews Beyond Politics: The Roots of Government Failure, by Randy Simmons.

Daniel Wahl reviews Jiro Dreams of Sushi, directed by David Gelb.