Reading for Battle
Battle Readings is a regularly updated compilation of articles, essays, and opinion pieces relevant to the themes of the Battle of Ideas.
Choose a theme from the listing on the left to narrow your search, or view all readings.
Science & Environment
Einstein's legacy
Einstein's insistence that the laws of physics must coherently and consistently explain everything in nature has proved too much to live up to for many subsequent physicists - such is his legacy
Lee Smolin, Logos, Summer 2005
Einstein's insistence that the laws of physics must coherently and consistently explain everything in nature has proved too much to live up to for many subsequent physicists - such is his legacy
Lee Smolin, Logos, Summer 2005
Climate change, the role of cities
Climate change is already part of daily life - now measures to combat it must become part of cities' formal work programmes and action plans
Various, Local capacities for global agendas, UNEP and UN HABITAT, May 2005
Climate change is already part of daily life - now measures to combat it must become part of cities' formal work programmes and action plans
Various, Local capacities for global agendas, UNEP and UN HABITAT, May 2005
The rise of reality science
Science programmes, just like all other television genres, follow trends. The new formats have come a long way since the highbrow traditional documentaries featuring “talking heads” that, judging by BBC Horizon's message board, many scientists remember nostalgically.
Deborah Cohen, British Medical Journal, 21 May 2005
Science programmes, just like all other television genres, follow trends. The new formats have come a long way since the highbrow traditional documentaries featuring “talking heads” that, judging by BBC Horizon's message board, many scientists remember nostalgically.
Deborah Cohen, British Medical Journal, 21 May 2005
Venice Turns to Future to Rescue Its Past
When Jane da Mosto scrambles from the water taxi onto the front steps of her family's ancient palazzo on the Grand Canal, her gaze is tinged with mourning.
Elisabeth Rosenthal, New York Times, 22 February 2005
When Jane da Mosto scrambles from the water taxi onto the front steps of her family's ancient palazzo on the Grand Canal, her gaze is tinged with mourning.
Elisabeth Rosenthal, New York Times, 22 February 2005
When does life begin?
It depends who you ask. Some groups say life begins as soon as a sperm fuses with an egg. Others believe the boundary is more blurred.
Ian Sample, Guardian, 10 February 2005
It depends who you ask. Some groups say life begins as soon as a sperm fuses with an egg. Others believe the boundary is more blurred.
Ian Sample, Guardian, 10 February 2005
How global warming research is creating climate of fear
Science is deteriorating into a repair shop for conventional, politically opportune scientific claims. Not only does science become impotent; it also loses its ability to objectively inform the public.
Hans von Storch and Nico Stehr, Der Spiegel, 23 January 2005
Science is deteriorating into a repair shop for conventional, politically opportune scientific claims. Not only does science become impotent; it also loses its ability to objectively inform the public.
Hans von Storch and Nico Stehr, Der Spiegel, 23 January 2005
Telling truth from lie in individual subjects with fast event related fMRI
The first quantitative estimate of the accuracy of fMRI in conjunction with a forced-choice paradigm in detecting deception in individual subjects
Daniel D. Langleben James W. Loughead, Warren B.Bilker, Kosha Ruparel, Anna Rose Childress, Samantha l. Busch and Ruben C Gur, Human Brain Mapping 26, 2004
The first quantitative estimate of the accuracy of fMRI in conjunction with a forced-choice paradigm in detecting deception in individual subjects
Daniel D. Langleben James W. Loughead, Warren B.Bilker, Kosha Ruparel, Anna Rose Childress, Samantha l. Busch and Ruben C Gur, Human Brain Mapping 26, 2004
The Science of Saving Venice
For over 10 years, there has been bitter argument in Italy about how to protect Venice from flooding, which has dangerously delayed important decision-making.
Jane da Mosto and Caroline Fletcher, Umberto Allemandi & Co, 15 December 2004
Roads Gone Wild
Monderman is one of the leaders of a new breed of traffic engineer - equal parts urban designer, social scientist, civil engineer, and psychologist. The approach is radically counterintuitive: Build roads that seem dangerous, and they'll be safer.
Tom McNichol, Wired, December 2004
Monderman is one of the leaders of a new breed of traffic engineer - equal parts urban designer, social scientist, civil engineer, and psychologist. The approach is radically counterintuitive: Build roads that seem dangerous, and they'll be safer.
Tom McNichol, Wired, December 2004
Can the law make us equal?
"The Battle of Ideas is free of that stifling British squeamishness about the serious discussion of ideas. It offers a rare chance to join the dots in contemporary politics and culture."
Eliane Glaser, writer & broadcaster; author, Get Real
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