Inside the Busy Mind of a Baby

Sure, they may while away their days eating, sleeping and soiling diapers. But Alison Gopnik says it’s high time that babies got some respect. In her new book, The Philosophical Baby, the University of California, Berkeley, psychologist argues that modern research is revolutionizing our understanding of the first years of life, revealing early childhood to be a frenzied period of intellectual, emotional and moral development

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What’s Behind Japan’s Love Affair with Robots?

If Japanese engineers had their way, we might soon be cheering on a robotic World Series. Every year or two, Japanese researchers roll out a new robotic invention — the latest to grab headlines earlier this month was a mechanized baseball duo of a batter and pitcher that can throw 90% of its pitches in the strike zone

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Recession reality bites Japan’s anime industry

Given the magnitude of Japan’s recession, it should perhaps come as little surprise that the fantasy-obsessed animation industry has received a hard dose of reality. Yasuo Yamaguchi, executive director of the Association of Japanese Animators, said the industry has been rocked by the country’s deepest recession since World War II.

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NASA Earth pictures show extent of eclipse

NASA has released new pictures of the Earth showing the vast extent of Wednesday’s spectacular solar eclipse. The longest solar eclipse of the century cast a wide shadow for several minutes over Asia and the Pacific Ocean, luring millions outside to watch the spectacle.

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Group of 22 U.S. students quarantined in China

A group of 22 students from the greater District of Columbia and Maryland area have been quarantined in China after several tested positive for the H1N1 flu virus, school officials said Tuesday. Total eclipses occur about twice a year as the moon passes between the Earth and the sun on the same plane as Earth’s orbit.

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