Philippe Matthews Show Guru Advice, Author Reviews, Tech Reviews, Entertainment News

“Maybe I’m not cut out for city life the smell of exhaust, the smell of strife” - Lou Reed Not everyone adjusts well to living in a city.

The Compass of Pleasure by David J. Linden

Peering deep into the sun's churning plasma, solar physicists have discovered a way to forecast the emergence of sunspots before they reach the solar surface.

At the SciFoo conference last weekend, brain scientist and illusionmeister Steve Macknik elevated a basic principle of energy conservation--turn off the lights when you don’t need them--to a whole new level. [More]

By Geoff Brumfiel of Nature magazine Today IBM unveiled a new "cognitive computing" microchip that, according to the company, emulates some of the brain's abilities. [More]

The Cities are the topic of the month here at Scientific American (and at least this week on the blogs), so I should chime in on an aspect of urban ecology that I am comfortable discussing – the effects of increased light at night on animals. [More]

Funny. Memorable.

By Timothy Gardner WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. emissions of the main greenhouse gas rebounded nearly 4 percent last year as factories ran harder while the economy recovered and as consumers boost air conditioning during the hot summer, the government said on Thursday

By Pascal Fletcher MIAMI (Reuters) - A human fecal bacterium kills coral, new research shows, and U.S.

Entrepreneurs who launch companies don't always stay in charge. Etsy founder Rob Kalin was replaced in July, and nine other examples. Rob Kalin is perhaps one of the few start-up founders to be replaced not once, but twice in his tenure as CEO

Top 10 Most Polluted Air [More]

At last, the field of genomics has something to offer Cheech and Chong. DNA sequencing hit a new high last night with the midnight release of the Cannabis sativa genome.

Robots often serve as first responders during mine collapses. A robot can fit into tight spaces, it’s not slowed by noxious fumes and it's expendable if there's another cave-in

At their most fundamental level, brains are made up of neurons. [More]

Quitting college at 18 to move to Silicon Valley and pursue your startup is the stuff of Hollywood dreams. Now add a billionaire benefactor--PayPal founder and Facebook investor Peter Thiel--bankrolling you and under pressure to prove that entrepreneurship can rival Harvard as a path to success. The inaugural class of Thiel Fellows is blogging about their experiences for Fast Company