Michael Kirham for The Boston Globe

Michael Kirham for The Boston Globe

The too-smart city

We’re building the metropolis of the future – green, wired, even helpful. But is that really where we want to live? By Courtney Humphries

Humans: We will survive!

The real, shameful story behind ‘Don’t give up the ship!’
Hermitage at Craigieburn from

Q&A

Garden hermit needed. Apply within.

Uncommon Knowledge

How the hot hand delusion messes with the game

And other surprising insights from the social sciences.

From Sunday’s Globe | Ideas

The long, weird history of the Nigerian e-mail scam

200 years ago, a near-perfect con was already snagging our imaginations—and wallets.

“Cities are focal points for human civilization, the places where people live, work, and create. And they may well be on the verge of new transformation, one that not only alters how they run but what their residents’ lives are like.”

Courtney Humphries,  on the too-smart city

Ideas on Boston.com

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2013/01/03/BostonGlobe.com/Ideas/Images/brainiac9090.gif Brainiac blog

Covering news and delights from the worlds of art, science, literature, history, design, and more.

Inside

Brainiac

Harvard’s guide to Star Trek

The DNA in your garbage: up for grabs

Bring back the United States of Pork

4,000 years of oaths, curses, and obscenity
The newly designed $100 bill is multi-colored.

The $100 bill, now in color!

Ideas

Belichick was right! Economics and the NFL draft
Ray Eames demonstrating The Toy, 1951.

Selling creativity to America’s kids
View of the water celebration on Boston Common October 25th 1848.

Boston’s water: public or private?

Ideas

What we want from the Marathon bombing trial
Japanese troops march into Nanking, capital of China, after the city’s capture in 1937.

Q&A

Conversations with evil men
Mark Twain, recorded in his autobiography that he dreamed of his younger brother’s death in a riverboat explosion, not long before the event took place.

A history of American dreams
A crowd thronged a London street for Margaret Thatcher’s funeral last week, despite fears and heightened security after the Boston bombing.

The risk

Vulnerability in an open city

Brainiac

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Brainiac

Lost dogs of 18th-century London

And other recent highlights from the Ideas blog.

The Word

The word

“Boston Strong,” the phrase that rallied a city

How’d we find a unifying phrase so fast? It’s been evolving for years.

Uncommon Knowledge

Uncommon Knowledge

When single ladies ovulate, they vote Barack

And other surprising insights from the social sciences.

Books

Book Review

Khaled Hosseini’s first two novels centered on his homeland, Afghanistan. In this third novel, he expands his focus from Kabul to Paris, San Francisco, and the Greek isle of Tinos.

‘And the Mountains Echoed’ by Khaled Hosseini

The beloved author of “The Kite Runner” returns to the rugged landscape of his home country, Afghanistan.

Opinion

“Once upon a time places like Harvard aspired to live up to the principle that debate was legitimate, and no hypothesis was taboo.”

Jeff Jacoby 

Magazine

The cover for the May 19 2013 issue

10 best amusement and theme parks in New England
The cover for the May 12 2013 issue

Restart: The future of the Marathon
The cover for the May 5 2013 issue

Greater Boston’s top spots to live
The cover for the April 28 2013 issue

Can’t-miss events