An article posted today at LiveScience explores the problems facing scientists who attempt to explain human consciousness in terms of human disciplines like physics or biology. According to the story, “Roger Penrose, a mathematical physicist at Oxford University, believes that if a ‘theory of everything’ is ever developed in physics to explain all the known phenomena in the universe, it should at least partially account for consciousness.” Consciousness studies is e a hot topic, along with areas like string theory:...

This Wired News article looks at the practices of mitted to reducing manufacturing and industrial waste. Cutting waste makes good economic and environmental sense. “Anything that’s waste is an inefficiency in the process, and inefficiency is lost dollars,” says Patricia Calkins, vice president for environment, health and safety at Xerox. A cost that is often overlooked is that associated with waste management. “Skyrocketing landfill costs during the late 1980s and early 1990s” helped panies toward minimization of waste. Carpetmaker Collins...

In a column in today’s Washington Times, Arnaud de Borchgrave looks at the growing gap between pensation and the pay of just about everyone else. He quotes a Wall Street Journal study showing that in 2004 the median salary and bonus for CEOs soared 14.5 percent, while paychecks for salaried employees averaged a 3.4 percent increase. Among those who view this situation with alarm are Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan and Christopher Cox, the new chairman of the Securities and Exchange...

Acton senior fellow Marvin Olasky writes about two examples of churches placing the needs of Christians and evangelism in the developing world above their own forts. In the first piece, Olasky discusses Mount Zion United Methodist Church just outside of Baltimore. While mid-Atlantic heat can be oppressive, it’s pared that of the everlasting lake of fire. With this priority of the eternal over the temporal in mind, the congregation decided “the sanctuary would get air conditioning only after the congregation...

Hopeful signs are emerging for the future of economic prosperity in Europe despite some serious opposition. The European Parliament recently moved to scrap the ratification of an informal agreement reached last year by EU member states and supported by the European Commission, that would have made important strides forward in the legal recognition of intellectual property rights. The Computer Implemented Inventions Directive (CIID), which would protect intellectual property and standardize EU software patent law, now appears dead. This leaves in...

In the weeks that have passed since the announcement of the nomination of John Roberts to serve as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, an old debate has moved into the forefront once again: can a person with deeply held religious beliefs (in Judge Roberts’ case, a devout Catholic) hold a high political or judicial office and still abide by the Constitution? Rev. Robert Sirico made a guest appearance on the Laura Ingraham Show this morning to...

A most worthy piece in The New Atlantis by Matthew B. Crawford, “The Computerized Academy,” examines some of the implications puterization and technological advance on the traditional liberal education. Among the important trends that Crawford observes is the application of a consumer/producer relationship model between student and teacher. This trend is facilitated by technological advances, especially the free flow of information possible on the Internet. But Crawford wonders “what education will e—or already is—when it es so sensitive to the...

This review in the latest issue of Books & Culture by John Copeland Nagle, associate dean for Faculty Research and professor at the Notre Dame Law School, reflects on a book on the environmental history of China, by Mark Elvin. Nagle begins the piece with a brief personal anecdote of his experience with environmental problems in China: On the morning of March 20, 2002, I left my windowless office in the Tsinghua University Law School for a short break. Then...

If you’re inclined to praise GE for its “green” makeover, featuring cutesy ads like the one in which the baby elephant dances playfully in the rainforest, William Baldwin has some practical suggestions in a piece in this week’s issue of Forbes. “Should you show your support by buying a few shares of this ecologically pany? There are better ways to help the environment,” he contends. These include: opposing windmill subsidies, buying hormonal milk, and not recycling newspapers. ...

On August 9, 1945, 60 years ago today, the second atomic bomb named “fat man” was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. Total casualties from the bomb are estimated at about 100,000, many dying from the effects of radiation following the dropping of the bomb. The bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, which was a secondary target, at the perimeter of the city near strategic military targets. Nagasaki, located in the midst of hills, suffered much less damage than Hiroshima, bombed three days...