Angela Belcher is a materials scientist who makes things with viruses. She is now using them to attack cancer

Brain scan: The DNA of materials

Angela Belcher is a materials scientist who makes things with viruses. She is now using them to attack cancer

Mar 8th 2014 | From the print edition

“IT’S getting a little challenging,” says Angela Belcher. “I feel I am having to make choices now, which I never really wanted to.” But there are only so many hours in the day and she already combines multiple academic disciplines into a repertoire of research that spans an ambition to drive an electric car powered by a virus battery to building better touch-screens for digital devices and lately to giving surgeons new tools to detect and potentially treat minute traces of cancer. Read more of this post

Global warming: Who pressed the pause button? The slowdown in rising temperatures over the past 15 years goes from being unexplained to overexplained

Global warming: Who pressed the pause button? The slowdown in rising temperatures over the past 15 years goes from being unexplained to overexplained

Mar 8th 2014 | From the print edition

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BETWEEN 1998 and 2013, the Earth’s surface temperature rose at a rate of 0.04°C a decade, far slower than the 0.18°C increase in the 1990s. Meanwhile, emissions of carbon dioxide (which would be expected to push temperatures up) rose uninterruptedly. This pause in warming has raised doubts in the public mind about climate change. A few sceptics say flatly that global warming has stopped. Others argue that scientists’ understanding of the climate is so flawed that their judgments about it cannot be accepted with any confidence. A convincing explanation of the pause therefore matters both to a proper understanding of the climate and to the credibility of climate science—and papers published over the past few weeks do their best to provide one. Indeed, they do almost too good a job. If all were correct, the pause would now be explained twice over. Read more of this post

Religion and advertising: Competing to be the real thing

Religion and advertising: Competing to be the real thing

Mar 8th 2014, 12:01 by B.C.

TWO recent bits of news will be of interest to people who worry about the offence which advertising and other marketing tools can cause to religious believers. As it happens, both items concern Christians in Britain, but one could find many similar stories from other countries and faiths. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), a self-regulatory body,rejected a complaint from 30 people who said they were upset by a Christmas commercial for KFC, a fast-food chain. The ad poked lightish fun at some secular aspects of the winter-holiday celebration (like shoppers squabbling over an item they both wanted) and showed carol singers trying to soften the heart of a Scrooge-like figure with what they self-mockingly called “stupid songs”. It was the latter two words which offended some; but as the ASA noted, the singers were just making a point about their grumpy listener’s state of mind. Read more of this post

How to be Happier and More Productive by Avoiding ‘Decision Fatigue’

How to be Happier and More Productive by Avoiding ‘Decision Fatigue’

Posted on Tuesday, May 7th, 2013

Written by Brian Bailey

Let’s say it’s your birthday.

First, happy birthday! We got you a cake.

We’ll come back to the cake in a moment. Read more of this post

Think you’re a thought leader? You’re probably wrong. but here are 3 ways to become one

Think you’re a thought leader? You’re probably wrong… but here are 3 ways to become one

Cheryl Kim, Special to Financial Post | March 7, 2014 | Last Updated:Mar 7 11:57 AM ET
Thought leadership. A term bandied about daily by public relations people trying to build the reputation of their CEO. But most people talking about thought leadership have no clue what it means. And most content labelled as “thought leadership” is actually missing the elements of both “thought” and “leadership”. Read more of this post

Fastenal’s CEO Sweats the Small Stuff: Will Oberton climbed Fastenal’s ranks by sticking with basics and solving problems creatively. Even Warren Buffett is impressed

SATURDAY, MARCH 8, 2014

Fastenal’s CEO Sweats the Small Stuff

By DYAN MACHAN | MORE ARTICLES BY AUTHOR

Will Oberton climbed Fastenal’s ranks by sticking with basics and solving problems creatively. Even Warren Buffett is impressed. Read more of this post

Counting our blessings: We should learn to be thankful for the many good things in life that we often take for granted

Updated: Sunday March 9, 2014 MYT 7:21:10 AM

Counting our blessings

BY SOO EWE JIN

We should learn to be thankful for the many good things in life that we often take for granted.

THERE are some realities in life that we sometimes find difficult to embrace. Read more of this post