A lot of pro football players cross-train. They practice the plays and the running, the throws and the tackles. We've even heard stories of pro athletes taking ballet lessons to lighten their footwork. But for NFL MVP Shaun Alexander, training also included chess.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
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According to one estimate, the average young person spends about 8 hours a week playing video games. While many parents are worried about all that screen time, there's an emerging body of research that suggests some social and psychological benefits to gaming. And now there's a new generation of educators who want to bring video games into the classroom, not only to make it more fun, but also more effective. Journalist Greg Toppo writes about their efforts in "The Game Believes in You: How Digital Play Can Make Our Kids Smarter."
Tad Williams is the author of several best-selling fantasy novels. He talks with Jim Fleming about the fantasy genre and how readers can use it to explore ideas about the real world.
There's money to be made in the future. It's Liz Crawford's job to help big corporations figure out how to prepare for possible futures.
Television is rife with shows about female spies, whether it's Nikita, Covert Affairs, the Americans, or Homeland. It really seems like spy girls are having a moment on TV, but how true to life are these popular depictions? We turned to former CIA operations officer Valerie Plame Wilson to find out.
Philosopher and novelist Umberto Eco wrote a history of beauty. A few years later, he followed it up with a study of ugliness. Here’s what he found
In her book, "Do Metaphors Dream of Literal Sleep?: A Science-Fictional Theory of Representation," Seo-Young Chu argues that science fiction is a kind of "high-intensity realism." She spoke with Jim Fleming.
Stephen Thompson is an editor at The Onion newspaper, and editor of “The Onion A.V. Club: The Tenacity of the Cockroach.”
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