What Is It Like to Be a Baby?

Alison Gopnik is a psychologist and philosopher at the University of California, Berkeley. She's also the author of the newly released book The Philosophical Baby, which explores the inner world of young children. Mind Matters editor Jonah Lehrer chats with Gopnik about why babies might be more conscious than adults, the benefits of having an imaginary friend and why play, not necessity, is the mother of invention.
What Is It Like to Be a Baby?

Best visions of the night sky

Star trails, horse heads and shadowy moons are some of the sights captured by stargazers across the world vying for the title of Astronomy Photographer of the Year.
Best visions of the night sky

How to Determine Your Blood Type

Want to know your blood type? If you ever need to know, medical staff can determine it on the spot, but maybe you're just curious. Maybe you want to know what your blood type says about your personality.[1] Either way, there are actually several ways to go about finding out.
How to Determine Your Blood Type

Computer Repair Flowcharts

Diagnosing computer problems can be a very time consuming process especially for computer users who have no or only basic computer repair process. These users only have a few options left if their computer system fails. One being to ask a proficient friend or colleague. The other option is to pay for professional computer repair which can be costly and time consuming depending where the computer system was bought and where it should be repaired.
Computer Repair Flowcharts

The Los Angeles fires

Video: Time Lapse Test: Station Fire, a haunting little piece put together by Eric Speigelman. The "Station Fire" has now spread to nearly 100,000 acres. Fires are a predictable, seasonal, and natural aspect of ecology and life in Southern California.
The Los Angeles fires

HOW TO: Find the Name of That Song

Ever had that tune you just couldn’t get out of your head, but you couldn’t remember the darn title or who the heck performed the track? Well there’s an app for that.
HOW TO: Find the Name of That Song

The Top 10 Essential Social Media Stories This Week

From an image editing disaster by Microsoft to Yelp’s augmented reality application to a rehab center for Internet addicts, it’s been a busy week in web news.
The Top 10 Essential Social Media Stories This Week

Family Friendly sites listed on Blackstump Australia Issue 26 - August 29, 2009

The latest issue of new family friendly sites listed on The Black Stump.
Family Friendly sites listed on Blackstump Australia Issue 26 - August 29, 2009

Avoid Bank Fees

I don't pay any bank fees, except rental on my safe deposit box. That leaves me of two minds about the fees. On the one hand, I feel bad because the fees tend to fall hardest on the people who can afford them the least--the poor, the ignorant, the stupid, the careless, the lazy, and the unlucky. On the other hand, the fees other people pay help cover the costs of the many free services that I get from the bank.
Avoid Bank Fees

How to Travel on a Very Limited Budge

Totally broke and dying to get out of town? Looking for some adventure without breaking the bank? This article will explore some ideas for how you can travel as cost-effectively as possible, perhaps even for free. The key is do some research and be flexible!
How to Travel on a Very Limited Budget

Doing Something Difficult

Increasing your personal abilities is just like increasing your strength. You have to exercise in order to get stronger. If you want to grow as an individual, you have to do things that are hard in order to make it easier for you to do difficult things in the future.
Doing Something Difficult

Tourist beware: Europe’s latest travel scams by Rick Steves

Gelato in hand, you’re strolling down a street in Italy, when suddenly, an attractive woman starts arguing with a street vendor. A crowd gathers as he accuses her of shoplifting. To prove her innocence, she starts to strip. Once she’s down to her underwear, the vendor apologizes, the woman leaves, and the onlookers disappear — and so have their wallets, thanks to a team of pickpockets working the show.
Tourist beware: Europe’s latest travel scams by Rick Steves

Magazines may mislead parents on SIDS and safe sleeping

I love thumbing through vintage magazines. It's not so much for the articles (although I do like reading them) but rather for the advertisements. Whether printed in brighter-than-life color or black and white, these adverts serve up a revealing and often amusing glimpse of the aspirations, ideals, and zeitgeist of their time. But, in truth, what I relish most is their shock value, as in "Wow, did they really do/think/buy/sell THAT back then?"
Magazines may mislead parents on SIDS and safe sleeping

State Law Fail

State Law Fail: "

Picture by: dunno source. Submitted by: dunno source via Fail Uploader

"

Drinking may reduce dementia risk

Drinking moderate amounts of alcohol later in life may prevent the development of dementia, according to new research by the Australian National University.
Drinking may reduce dementia risk

3quarksdaily

Hopes to present interesting items from around the web on a daily basis, in the areas of science, design, literature, current affairs, art, and anything else they deem inherently fascinating.
3quarksdaily

Top 5 Worst Productivity Ideas

Here are some of the top five traps people fall into when they try to increase their productivity. Most of them aren’t bad things in and of themselves. However, if they become your focus, you can be sure you aren’t going to be getting the benefits you are striving for.
Top 5 Worst Productivity Ideas

Recorded Crime - Offenders, Selected states and territories, 2007-08

Recorded Crime - Offenders collection and how it fits within the criminal justice system. A summary view of offenders proceeded against by police for the seven available states and territories and selected data about offenders for each of the respective states.
Recorded Crime - Offenders, Selected states and territories, 2007-08

Keeping Up with the Smiths

The data Wolfram|Alpha uses to compute surname statistics is largely drawn from name results from the U.S. Census. The United States is sometimes referred to as a “melting pot” because of the number of people who move to it from all corners of the world, bringing and melding their native cultures. Because of this, surnames found in the U.S. have origins from all over the world.
Keeping Up with the Smiths

The Definitive Guide to Backing Up and Ditching Your Discs

Whether you're moving, short on cash, or running out of storage space, you've got plenty of reasons to ditch your physical media. Hard drives are cheap; here are Lifehacker's recommended methods of saving, selling, and trading your CDs, DVDs, and video games.
The Definitive Guide to Backing Up and Ditching Your Discs