The face of the resistance

Author Danny Caine is raising Cain about the problems he says Amazon causes  A lot of people complain about Amazon, but Danny Caine is doing something about it. Caine, a poet and the owner of The Raven Book Store in Lawrence, Kansas, is the author of the book How to Resist Amazon and Why. He … Continued

Meet the SPAC: IPO 2.0

What investors need to know about the recently resurrected investment structure For decades, the Russian proverb “Trust, but verify” has guided the United States in its dealings with the Soviet Union and Iran. Today, the same principle applies to SPACs, the special-purpose acquisition companies formed to take private entities public. Investors hand over cash to … Continued

The Serendipity Mindset

Luck? It’s all in your head. In his book The Serendipity Mindset: The Art and Science of Creating Good Luck, author Christian Busch differentiates between what he calls blind luck and smart luck. Some people find themselves blessed with blind luck, like the good fortune of being born into a prosperous family. Others work to … Continued

Alien Artifact or Just Another Rock?

Scientists debate whether extraterrestrials may have created a mysterious object visiting us from outside the solar system The world may someday remember 2017 as one of those years that changed everything—like 1492 or 1776. It’s the year astronomers detected a mysterious object tumbling through space and gave it the Hawaiian name “Oumuamua.” How big a deal … Continued

Earth 2.0

NASA’s former head scientist says humans may soon discover signs of life elsewhere in the solar system and eventually on exoplanets Six years ago, a noted scientist predicted researchers would find definitive proof of extraterrestrial life in the next 20 to 30 years. Does the projection still hold true? Maybe. Ellen Stofan, the John and Adrienne … Continued

Are We Alone?

The quest to conquer space and link up with whatever intelligent life might reside out there Humans have never wanted to feel alone in the universe. In ancient times, they looked to the heavens and imagined a realm teeming with magnificent but fallible gods. Later, they came to believe a single omnipotent god resided there … Continued

The Smartest Man in America?

Luckbox leans in with Chris Langan, a man with an estimated IQ score of 200, who breeds horses, ponders the nature of the universe and would never be confused with a rare and delicate hothouse orchid Some consider Christopher Langan the smartest person in America, but others go even further. They call him the smartest … Continued

Demystifying Mensa

Members of the best-known high-IQ society don’t just discuss Proust or quantum mechanics. They know other ways of having fun, too. The leaders of Mensa, a society that brings together extremely intelligent people, espouse some lofty goals for the organization. But in a lot of ways it’s really a social club. Just ask Stephanie and … Continued

Dismantle the Cult of Smart

Variations in IQ scores are one reason schools should stop trying to squeeze every student into the same academic mold  Fredrik deBoer, author of The Cult of Smart: How Our Broken Education System Perpetuates Social Injustice, believes IQ scores can say something significant. They’re one indicator that some students will never succeed in the classroom, … Continued

The Genius Guide to IQ

Scores on IQ tests can tell us a lot, but they can’t tell us everything Does IQ matter? Well, yes and no. High scores on intelligence-quotient tests often correlate with success. But psychologists agree that people amount to more than a single measurement of intellect can capture. The predictive power and limitations of IQ scores … Continued