Richard Branson, 1/5/12

Founder, Virgin Group

Space tourism may seem like an excuse for joy rides for the rich, but in reality it's the start of a new and vital private sector industry that will help develop safer, cheaper and cleaner space travel and result in technology that will lead to broader innovation and discovery.

Jason Linkins, 1/5/12

Editor, Eat the Press

The close second-place Iowa finish has given Rick Santorum's candidacy new life, but he is now playing catch-up with the new top tier. And he has a lot of catching up to do.

Buzz Aldrin, 1/5/12

Apollo 11 Moonwalker

2012 is an inflection year -- the year we will and must decide whether the U.S. has the will and ability to lead the world in human space exploration. For me, I am betting we do -- and here is how I suggest we begin.

Michael Shermer, 1/5/12

Founding Publisher, Skeptic magazine; Editor, Skeptic.com

As 2012 unfolds, most notably with predictions about political elections, beware of the experts. For the most part, these experts are no better than dart-throwing chimps.

Sec. Hilda Solis, 1/5/12

U.S. Secretary of Labor

My parents were first-generation Latino immigrants. I had six siblings. My family didn't have a lot of money. So to get ahead, we had to work twice as hard. And to find a summer job, we sometimes had to look twice as hard.

Paul Krassner, 1/5/12

Author and Satirist

The world will end on December 21st, but will begin all over again on December 23rd, just in time for last-minute Christmas shopping. The most popular gift will be cans of pepper-spray in a variety of flavors.

Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, 1/5/12

Senior Religion Editor for the Huffington Post

"I felt that one of the reasons that I was elected President was to try to bring peace to the Holy Land."

Michael B. Keegan, 1/5/12

President, People For the American Way

Mitt Romney -- through his biography, demeanor and tin ear -- has, with good reason, become personally associated with these policies that cater to the wealthy and privileged and ignore the middle class.

Laurie David, 1/5/12

Producer/Author/NRDC Trustee

Right under our noses, cell phones are undermining centuries of date etiquette. The result is not pretty. Along with landlines, the doorbell is becoming extinct, and with it, the one opportunity you have to look the kid (friend, date) in the eye, assess his/her demeanor (ie: sobriety) and make sure he knows I'm watching.

Monique Ruffin, 1/5/12

Mother, author, blogger, and life coach

Today in many churches all across this nation, we continue to indoctrinate innocent children in the practice of homophobia. These children grow up with a desire to please God, and in doing so they become the Rick Perrys of the world.

Max Tegmark, 1/5/12

Physicist, MIT

How's it all going to end? Being a cosmologist, I'm not talking about our new year, but about our universe, billions of years from now. This question has gotten me worrying about what I call the Big Snap.

Margaret Anderson, 1/5/12

Executive Director, FasterCures, The Center for Accelerating Medical Solutions

We'll be watching for the launch of one or more of these efforts in 2012.

Kirsten West Savali, 1/5/12

Cultural critic, screenwriter and Senior News Editor, YourBlackWorld.com

More than the obvious ignorance of Rick Santorum's statement about Obama's pro-choice stance, the underlying condescending and prejudicial tone reveals Santorum's sense of superiority and blatant disregard for African-American life.

Alvin McEwen, 1/5/12

Blogmaster, Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters

NARTH's Rick Fitzgibbons cited the work of Theodora Sirota to make the case that children in same-sex households are not raised better than children "in stable homes with a mother and a father." According to Sirota, Fitzgibbons misused her work.

Robert Reich, 1/5/12

Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy, University of California at Berkeley; Author, 'Aftershock'

Meryl Streep's eery reincarnation of Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady brings to mind Thatcher's most famous quip, "there is no such thing as 'society.'" The GOP hasn't quoted her yet, but they might as well.

Lisa Randall, 1/5/12

Physics Professor, Harvard University; Author, 'Knocking on Heaven’s Door: How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Modern World'

Creativity is essential to particle physics, cosmology, mathematics, and to other fields of science, just as it is to its more widely acknowledged beneficiaries -- the arts and humanities.

Heather Taylor-Miesle, 1/5/12

Director, NRDC Action Fund

Today the American Petroleum Institute launched its latest attack on our great nation with their "Vote 4 Energy" or "I vote" campaign.

Bill McKibben, 1/5/12

Author of a dozen books, including 'The End of Nature' and 'Deep Economy'

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, front outfit for a consortium of corporations, has bragged on its website about outspending everyone in Washington, which is easy to do when Chevron, Goldman Sachs, and News Corp are writing you seven-figure checks.

Lisa Belkin, 1/5/12

Senior Columnist on Life/Work/Family, Huffington Post

A look at some of the hundreds of suggestions readers have sent for a new parenting blog name.

Jedediah Purdy, 1/5/12

Professor, Duke Law School; Author, 'A Tolerable Anarchy'

The country deserves politicians who recognize the waste and destruction of war-making -- abroad and at home -- without joining Ron Paul in embracing the gold standard and declaring the 1964 Civil Rights Act unconstitutional. We used to have them.

Anne Wojcicki, 1/5/12

Co-Founder, 23andMe

I feel giddy about the potential genetic discoveries in the coming decade. It's an incredibly exciting time. Questions that have circled in my head for 32 years may soon get more clarity.

Randy Susan Meyers, 1/5/12

Author, 'The Murderer's Daughters'

When hearing the UPS truck coming down the road, you realize that the day has come when you can't open the door to your beloved UPS man. This is a tragedy. You work at home. UPS is your lifeline.

Bob Cesca, 1/4/12

Host of The Bob & Chez Show, Media Producer

Ron Paul's progressive supporters might not grasp that Paul's libertarianism, while informing some of his seemingly progressive views on foreign policy and the like, carries with it a significant load of horrendous and unacceptable baggage.

Eric Boehlert, 1/5/12

Senior Fellow, Media Matters for America

Michelle Obama's critics claim she's to blame for pushing an activists health agenda. But history shows us that nutrition doesn't explain the unhinged conservative attacks on Michelle Obama.