Wes Phillips

Ben Stein is not your typical free-trade apologist.

Are scientists getting close to telepathy?

I was reading Alex Ross's spot-on "Burying">http://www.therestisnoise.com/2007/03/burying_the_led.html">"Burying the Lede" this morning, when I followed a link to an essay he'd published in The New Yorker back in February that you simply must read.

Stealing jokes is serious.

Try to wrap your mind around the stats involving Toxoplasma gondii. The parasite makes rats seek cats, but is it also altering the cultures of entire nations? Skewing the sex ratios of affected populations? Doubling the chances of traffic accidents?

Think about it, if you reduce the noise caused by airplanes, what else are you reducing—or enhancing?

Exploring the randomness of the iPod's random function.