Social media isn’t always very sociable. Okay, that may not be breaking news, but I think it’s important to step back and reflect on how social media can bring out the worst in people. That’s even true on LinkedIn, which prides itself on being a place for professionals of all sorts. More than once recently,…

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How’s your vision? I’m guessing it’s not 20/20, because only about a third of us can see that well without glasses or contacts. (I say this as I grab for my glasses.) I’ve been thinking about vision ever since my good friend Anthony J. James appeared on this episode of The Combustion Chronicles. AJ isn’t…

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A recent study in Scientific American showed that people learn faster when they are free to choose which action they make, even if the choice initially leads to a negative outcome. The concept, “choice-confirmation bias,” produces “stabler learning over a wide range of simulated conditions than unbiased (no choice) did.” Researchers also believe that choice-confirmation…

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In August, astronauts safely splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico, completing NASA’s first successful mission in partnership with a commercial space flight company, Elon Musk’s SpaceX. It was a bright spot for all of us worried about what shoe might drop next in this year of disasters. And it offered a lesson in a…

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