The Present
All Stories
Environmental progress is happening quickly but we must keep pushing for change.
The record-breaking transmission could revolutionize deep space communication.
The U.S. ranked 59th worldwide.
Sometimes called “the new gold,” sand is the second most exploited natural resource in the world after fresh water.
As wind power grows around the world, so does the threat the turbines pose to wildlife. From simple fixes to high-tech solutions, new approaches can help.
Frontier, the ORNL supercomputer, used machine learning to perform 9.95 quintillion calculations per second.
Is it better to be the oldest sibling, the youngest, or in the middle?
Big Think spoke with AI expert Nick Jennings about the future of regulating fast-evolving AI.
How much do citizens really value free elections?
Claims of a sudden infestation appear unfounded.
A game that challenges pedestrians to avoid detection by an AI could help train tomorrow’s self-driving cars.
To see a true cross-section of American society, head to Applebee’s, Buffalo Wild Wings, IHOP, Chili’s, and Olive Garden.
AIs can imitate but not innovate — for now, at least.
Through humility, the old arrogance of infallibility crumbles. And in that there is genuine hope to prevent wrongful convictions.
We’ve heard this argument before.
When the UK bans the American Bully XL this year, it won’t rely on science to identify them.
Did they spend the money on themselves or others?
Simple “nudges” to remind people to show up for court could help keep thousands out of jail.
The region of Catalonia has been at odds with greater Spain for over 300 years. The prospect of autonomy remains a distant and fading dream.
Experts say it’s likely space junk—and there’s plenty more where that came from.
Wherever automation rises, religiosity falls.
“The more I unleash myself from the tethers of domestication, the happier I feel.”
Ideal models of family life have been broken by societal, technological, and cultural shifts — and we need to rethink our options.
Predictive power has perverse, anti-democratic consequences. So be a good citizen and lie to election pollsters.
It could cut the time needed to reach Mars in half.
Big Think covered the 2012 study shortly after it was published. We are now correcting the record.
While the steep rise of inequality in the United States is well-known, long-run data on the incomes of the richest shows countries have followed a variety of trajectories.
Lab-grown meat may work better as a complement to animal agriculture rather than a replacement of it.
Our state of extreme social interconnectedness has rapidly accelerated the rollercoaster pace at which societal confidence may collapse.