Make Yourself Happier: Make Your Bed
Author, "The Happiness Project"
Happiness begins with concrete, manageable steps. But it must take on a more transcendent aspect as well.
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The invention behind the popular video game began with guinea pigs Yo-Yo Ma and Penn and Teller. Watch
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A Brief History of Sexism in Science
What’s the “women in science” problem, again? From the grad student whose thesis advisor stole her Nobel-winning ideas to the once-ridiculed theorist of dark matter, female scientific excellence has long been snubbed. Watch
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The automobile of the future could be pink one day and green the next. Watch
Featured Blogs
The Voice of Big Think
March 16, 2010 — 1:00 AM
The author of "The Happiness Project," which is both a bestselling book and a popular blog, concedes that the title may be something of a misnomer. "Happiness," she says, has a way of turning into a mythical destination that taunts us with our inability to reach it. Better to make "happier" the goal, and to improve your life through a series of manageable, concrete steps. Like...making your bed? Read more
Think, See, Feel
March 15, 2010 — 8:02 PM
Hedonomics I: Happiness Is Easy
Love. Sex. Space. Coke. (Coke?) Discretion. Indiscretion. Family. Fame. Privacy. Puppies. The Rolling Stones. One man’s happiness is, axiomatically, not another’s, and so the riddle of what brings us peace in ourselves and in our communities remains, Sphinx-like, perpetually fascinating—for novelists, perhaps not, but for other writers and, increasingly, for economists. Read more
Trend World
March 15, 2010 — 7:15 PM
Real-Life Superheroes or Masked Activists?
It sounds like a ridiculous premise for a bad Hollywood script. A very, very bad Hollywood script. But a confluence of forces over the past two years could be contributing to a bizarre rise in real-life, mask-and-spandex super heroes. With a heightened sense of online activism and large-scale cuts in a number of police forces, these pseudo-superheroes appear to be part vigilante, part activist. That's right, superhero activists. Read more
Resurgence
March 15, 2010 — 6:44 PM
"I got IPO" used to be the phrase that paid back when I was a stockbroker years ago. There was a certain segment of the investing population who would do almost anything to get newly minted shares of a company, no matter how big or small the company. The historical data showed that the vast majority of companies who went public recorded stock prices a year later at or below their IPO price, but if an investor thought it was a hot deal, they wanted in. Read more
The Voice of Big Think
March 15, 2010 — 11:00 AM
It's "Dr. Kaku's Universe." We Just Live In It
This morning Big Think is pleased to present a kind of double feature: a full-length interview with CUNY theoretical physicist, futurist, and radio host Michio Kaku, and the launch of his brand-new Big Think blog: "Dr. Kaku's Universe." Though Dr. Kaku has long been a prolific author, speaker, and public educator in the sciences, this marks his first flight into the blogosphere. His maiden post appears this morning. Read more
Daily Ideafeed
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Freedom and Reliance
An Addict’s Choice - Everything you think you know about substance abuse is wrong according to a new book “Addiction: A Disorder of Choice,” which says addiction is “voluntary behavior.”
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Male Escort
Politics of Fun - What can policy makers learn from the tons of research published each year telling us why or how people could become happier? The New Yorker’s Elizabeth Kolbert inquires.
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Lesbian Soldier
“Outed” Officer - Attention has been drawn once again to the US' “don’t, ask don’t tell” policy regarding homosexuality in the armed forces after a lesbian solider was “outed” by police.
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Hedge Fund Wars
Protectionism in Drag - Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is right to worry about the European Union’s proposed “alternative investment fund” regulations, which he has branded “protectionism in drag.”
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Spoof Broadcast
Russian Invasion! - Breaking news, breaking news: the Russians are coming, the Russians are coming, the president has been assassinated and the capital has been bombed to shreds…(er, not really).
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Gaza
1,000 Days - It has been a thousand days since, in the words of the UN’s chief humanitarian officer, Gaza became the world’s largest outside prison. And the region is desperately awaiting tomorrow.
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IVF Draw
Human Egg Raffle - Outrage has been sparked after a London fertility clinic began raffling a human egg and IVF treatment to one lucky winner in celebration of its relationship with an American counterpart.
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Seinfeld
Unfunny Comeback - Even Jerry Seinfeld’s former writing partner Larry David has failed to see the funny side of his recent television comeback, appearing to echo critics who have branded the show “pointless.”
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“Exploitive Polemic”
“Green Zone” Truth? - A top military adviser on the newly released war thriller “Green Zone” has written an editorial slamming the film’s assertion that a massive conspiracy led us into the Iraq war.
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Whose War?
Rotating Forces - As the fight in Afghanistan heightens, with more troops flown in and more and more losses recorded, the conflict has come to be seen as Obama’s war, writes The Chicago Tribune.
