Big Think

A visual history of the universe that fits on your wall

Introducing Big Think’s first-ever poster — a stunningly detailed infographic of the universe from its earliest moments to the present day.

by Stephen Johnson

A visual timeline illustrating the history and evolution of the universe from the Big Bang to the present, featuring major cosmic events and the formation of galaxies and stars.

Featured Classes

Browse All

Geometric shapes including circles and arrows in various colors and patterns, with a sepia-toned man's face inside an upward arrow, on a dark blue background.

Members

7 videos

Mastering the Art of Sales and Persuasion

Dan Pink

Author, “Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us”

A middle-aged bald man with light skin and blue eyes, wearing a dark crewneck shirt, looks directly at the camera against a plain background.

Members

7 videos

No-Nonsense Leadership

Ben Horowitz

Founding Partner, Andreessen Horowitz and Author, The Hard Thing About Hard Things

A pink square with a grid pattern overlays a green and brown dotted background, intersected by three black lines ending in circular green and brown shapes.

Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Marketing, Arizona State University, and Author

A person with short hair, wearing a button-up shirt, smiles at the camera. The image has a muted color overlay with a transparent square in the center.

Members

8 videos

How to Lead with Generosity and Purpose

Will Guidara

Restaurateur and Author, Unreasonable Hospitality

Members

6 videos

Think Like an Entrepreneur

Nathalie Molina Niño

Co-Founder & Managing Director at Known Holdings, Builder Capitalist, Author of Leapfrong

A collage with four sections: hands typing on a keyboard, a yellow diamond shape, three yellow arrows, and a grayscale portrait of a man.

Members

5 videos

Take Control of Your Career

Jon Acuff

Leadership Speaker and New York Times Bestselling Author

Strange Maps

Cathedral of bones: Inside the world’s largest, deepest, and oldest whale graveyard

In a lightless canyon at the bottom of the Indian Ocean, Earth has been quietly collecting dead whales. Scientists have just discovered the archive.

by Frank Jacobs

Map showing locations and number of whale falls in the Indian Ocean, marked with orange circles; inset displays the broader region with study area highlighted in a red box.

The 3-part habit loop your brain is running 40 percent of the time

Charles Duhigg explains why trying to eliminate a bad habit is neurologically futile, and what to do instead.

with Charles Duhigg

A man with glasses and a beard wearing a green blazer and blue shirt sits in front of a plain backdrop, looking at the camera. The letters "BT" are visible in the top right corner.

1hr 27mins

Science & Tech

A new scale for spotting UFO reports worth investigating

This 11-point scale aims to reduce the number of "false alarm" sightings so scientists can focus on harder-to-explain reports.

by Dirk Schulze-Makuch & Tony Reichhardt

A blurry object is centered in a camera viewfinder on an orange background, with a white "N" in the lower right corner.

How AI is quietly changing what we think the human mind is

Neuroscientist Anil Seth on the deep differences between human minds and artificial ones.

by Shai Tubali

A digital illustration of a human brain outlined in white, composed of circuit-like lines, set against a black background with scattered white dots resembling stars.

Can 1,000 people have a meaningful conversation? AI may make it possible.

Nature evolved swarm intelligence in species like bees and fish. New AI-powered communication systems could help humans devise their own “collective superintelligence.”

by Louis Rosenberg

A large school of fish swims closely together underwater in the ocean, forming a dense, swirling cluster.

Move over, giant meteor. Here’s what the largest comet would do to Earth

Oort cloud object Bernardinelli–Bernstein has the largest known cometary nucleus: 119 km wide. An impact with Earth would be catastrophic.

by Ethan Siegel

Before emancipation, a pivotal moment started to dismantle slavery in the U.S.

The road to emancipation began when enslaved Americans seized an opportunity for freedom and forced the nation to reckon with slavery's role in the Civil War.

by Damon Root

Black text on a light background reads "Explore our LIBRARY" with "Explore" in large font and "our LIBRARY" in smaller, uppercase font underneath.

What would you like to learn more about? We have thousands of videos from the world’s biggest thinkers to help you dive deeper into any subject.

A man sits on a chair in front of a white backdrop in a library with brick walls, wooden floor, shelves of books, and large windows.

1hr 26mins

The strongest arguments for and against the existence of God

Alex O'Connor

Cosmic skeptic and public speaker

A man with glasses and a gray beard stands in front of illustrations of three classical columns, each with a different capital style.

22mins

Why stoicism fails when treated like self-help

Massimo Pigliucci

Author and professor of philosophy

Members

Elderly man with glasses and a white beard, photographed in cool tones with an orange transparent square overlay.

7 videos 39m

Tools for Thinking Critically

Daniel C. Dennett

Philosopher, writer, and cognitive scientist

A person sitting on a chair in a studio setting with a white backdrop and two small tables on either side, each holding a small plant.

11mins

The hard problem of consciousness

Annaka Harris

Best-selling author

A black and white pointillism illustration of a person viewed from behind, looking toward abstract, textured shapes in the background.

2mins

Why be happy when you could be interesting?

Slavoj Žižek

Philosopher and cultural critic

A person sitting on a chair with legs crossed in front of a white backdrop in a spacious room with wooden floors and large windows.

32mins

Love, sex, and happiness, explained by philosophy

Jonny Thomson

Author and philosopher

A man in a suit stands facing a large human eye, positioned at the center of the pupil as if about to step inside.

1hr 12mins

The science of consciousness is solving the biggest illusion in our universe

Anil Seth

Neuroscientist, author, and public speaker

An older man sits on a chair in front of a white backdrop in a modern, brightly lit room with colorful pillows and minimalist decor.

16mins

The happiness shortcut that hides in plain sight

Robert Waldinger

Professor of psychiatry

A person sits pensively with name tags around them reading "Hello, I'm a... writer? bookstore owner? father?.

5mins

The art of perception and self-reflection

Ryan Holiday

Best-selling author

A black silhouette with two overlapping human profiles facing opposite directions on a green background.

6mins

How your brain creates reality, explained by a neuroscientist

Lisa Feldman Barrett

Author and professor of psychology

Geometric abstract design featuring overlapping white wireframe curves forming a symmetrical star shape on a black background, evoking the cosmic elegance of the big bang.

The great Big Bang misconception

Michelle Thaller

Astronomer and science communicator

A person sits on a chair with hands clasped, facing forward. Blue waveforms and dots form a digital backdrop behind them.

1hr 19mins

The quantum roots of reality

Brian Cox

Author and science communicator

A petri dish with a red agar medium shows various colonies of bacteria growing, with dense streaks on the right and scattered colonies on the left.

13mins

How chance and error shaped every living being on Earth

Sean B. Carroll

Biologist and film producer

A person sits on a chair in a library setting, with bookshelves on either side and a white backdrop behind them.

1hr 17mins

We can tackle our biggest environmental problems

Hannah Ritchie

Data scientist and researcher

A man in a suit sits on a chair against a yellow background with abstract blue and green wave patterns behind him.

1hr 26mins

Sean Carroll explains why physics is both simple and impossible

Sean Carroll

Professor of natural philosophy

An older man in a suit and red tie sits on a chair against a white backdrop, with a colorful outer space scene in the background.

1hr 8mins

Michio Kaku wants to solve Einstein’s unfinished equation

Michio Kaku

Professor of theoretical physics

A person sits in front of a white backdrop, surrounded by a cosmic map with galaxies and celestial objects.

2hr 18mins

Where did our universe come from?

Ethan Siegel

Theoretical astrophysicist and science writer

Members

A stylized collage featuring a woman's face, abstract patterns, and a winding arrow in green, red, and black on a divided background.

7 videos 34m

How to Rewire Your Brain for Learning

Barbara Oakley

Professor of engineering

A mural shows an angel pointing toward a golden emblem, with rays emanating. Monks stand in reverence below, surrounded by flowers and architectural details.

13mins

Is AI aligned with our human interests?

Sam Harris

Philosopher and neuroscientist

A person in a suit sits on a chair against a cosmic background with galaxies and stars.

1hr 33mins

Searching for aliens and Earth 2.0

David Kipping

Astronomer

Person in a red sweater sitting on a stool in a bright studio with white walls and colorful striped rugs.

49mins

The 3 cognitive scripts that rule over your life

Anne-Laure Le Cunff

Anne-Laure Le Cunff is an award-winning neuroscientist and entrepreneur.

8mins

Why humans are surprisingly bad at being happy

Laurie Santos

Professor of psychology

Members

A man sits on a chair in front of a white backdrop, with bookshelves and lamps in the background, raising his hands in a questioning gesture.

10 videos 55m

Leading Through Anxiety

Jesse Eisenberg

Actor, writer and director

Silhouettes of two people face each other closely, with warm light casting their shadows on a wall.

1hr 25mins

The science-backed guide to having better sex

Emily Nagoski

Sex educator & author

8mins

6 ways to heal trauma without medication, from the author of “The Body Keeps the Score”

Bessel van der Kolk

Psychiatrist and neuroscientist

A man in a suit sits on a chair in front of a white door, surrounded by a vibrant, abstract swirl of red, pink, blue, yellow, and green colors.

2hr 9mins

How one psychedelic trip can alter an entire lifetime

Matthew W. Johnson

Professor of psychedelics

A man sits on a chair in front of a white backdrop with vibrant, rainbow-colored abstract patterns in the background.

1hr 2mins

Become stronger: Jumpstart your anti-fragile systems

Tal Ben-Shahar

Positive psychologist

A man with short, grayish hair, wearing a dark blazer and black shirt, stares directly at the camera against a black background.

9mins

Your mind is all you have. Is yours working?

Sam Harris

Philosopher and neuroscientist

5mins

Why divergent thinkers beat geniuses in the real world

David Epstein

Author

Members

A wall clock is combined with the silhouette of a snail against a textured blue and light blue background.

8 videos 49m

Slow Productivity

Cal Newport

Computer scientist and author

A person stands inside a glowing circle with sparks flying around in arcs, capturing the essence of "What is flow state," as the word "FLOW" appears in bold white letters across the center.

How to enter “flow state” on command

Steven Kotler

Author

Members

A bald man wearing a dark blazer and black shirt smiles slightly against a plain light gray background.

10 videos 58m

Unlocking Your Team’s Hidden Potential

Adam Grant

Organizational psychologist and author

A man in a blue shirt sits in front of a vivid blue and turquoise swirling abstract background.

1hr 34mins

How to think creatively on command

Tiago Forte

Productivity expert

A silhouette of a person climbing up the edge of a steep cliff against a beige background.

8mins

Why skill plateaus are inevitable – and how to push past them

Atul Gawande

Professor and author

A man in a light blue shirt sits on a chair in a white studio with a teal background featuring graphs and charts.

1hr

How your cognitive biases lead to terrible investing behaviors

Barry Ritholtz

Business leader and author

A group of colorful poker chips, including red, blue, black, and green, fall through the air against a black background.

5mins

Habits of highly successful risk-takers

Nate Silver

Statistician

A woman with curly hair, wearing a red blouse, smiles at the camera against a plain white background.

4mins

Ask smarter questions in 5 minutes

Natalie Nixon

Creativity strategist & CEO

Members

A person with short curly hair and glasses smiles at the camera, with a geometric red and green background behind them.

7 videos 31m

How to Build Influence That Lasts

Linda Hill

Professor of business

A digitally edited image showing a conductor’s hands, one holding a baton, against a red background with motion blur and light streaks.

5mins

Are you a visionary – or a follower? Here’s how to step up

Simon Sinek

Ethnographer and author

Illustration of two boxers in vintage-style attire, with one boxer extending a punch toward the other against a yellow background.

4mins

How to argue like a debate world champion

Bo Seo

Champion debater

10mins

The mind-blowing chaos that underpins the world

Brian Klaas

Professor of global politics

15mins

The mind-blowing stats on male inequality

Richard Reeves

Writer and social scientist

A person with long white hair sits smiling on a chair, set against a painted backdrop of classical architecture and a sky with clouds.

1hr 18mins

The truth of Ancient Rome hides under its myth of decadence

Mary Beard

Author and historian

A middle-aged man with glasses and long hair stands indoors, wearing a floral-patterned shirt. The background is softly blurred with kitchen and living room elements visible.

15mins

Why 2025 is the single most pivotal year in our lifetime

Peter Leyden

Peter Leyden is a longtime tech expert and thought leader on the future.

7mins

Why the world is going crazy—and how to win back our minds

Jamie Wheal

Author

A person sits alone on a bench against a yellow background, looking down at a smartphone.

12mins

The great friendship collapse: inside the anti-social century

Derek Thompson

Writer and podcaster

A person sits on a chair in front of a white backdrop in a loft-style room with brick walls, dark flooring, and two windows.

1hr 18mins

Conflict, crisis, consumption: What’s eating our nation?

Amanda Ripley

Author

A military-style, decorated uniform and cap with no visible wearer, set against a solid black background, evokes powerful imagery that prompts viewers to consider themes such as authority and questions like what is fascism.

9mins

The 10 tactics of fascism

Jason Stanley

Professor of philosophy

Members

A person with glasses and a bald head is looking slightly to the side, centered in a green-tinted square frame.

6 videos 26m

AI and the Future of Civilization

Yuval Noah Harari

Historian and philosopher

A person with short gray hair, wearing a dark jacket and a gray-blue scarf, looks at the camera against a plain light background.

13mins

Berkeley professor explains gender theory

Judith Butler

Professor and philosopher

Browse All Videos

A seated audience waits at an indoor event under pink lighting. The words "BIG THINK EVENTS" appear at the top left of the image.

A "Big Think" magazine titled "The Consciousness Issue" on a desk with a laptop, phone, book, notepad, pencil, and dice.

A collage of portraits, anatomical drawings, a close-up of two people, an image of Earth, and the text “Big Think on YouTube” at the bottom.

The text "MINI PHILOSOPHY" is written in bold, uppercase black letters on a white background.

Pause the busyness of life to reflect on ourselves, our relationships, and the Universe.

with Jonny Thomson

A silhouette of an adult holding a young child, both faces partially visible, embodies the tenderness of parenting against a soft, gradient blue and beige background.

Do parents know best? 3 experiments that tried to replace moms and dads

The family might be a terrible way to raise kids. But it's the best we have.

Jonny Thomson

Two beach umbrellas, one striped and one red, shade a folding chair with a towel draped over it on the sandy beach—inviting you to rest and unwind by the shore.

3 reasons why holidays aren’t making you more relaxed

If you're going to relax, don't do it halfway.

Jonny Thomson

A silhouette of a seated person with colorful gaming achievement icons, such as trophies and badges, where their head would be, on a green background.

How gamification can ruin your life

The cartoon owl wants to have a word.

Jonny Thomson

A classical painting depicts Kairos, a winged, bearded man with curly hair, holding a pair of golden scales against a light blue background.

Kairos: The ancient Greek art of knowing when to act

A white rabbit appears up ahead. What do you do?

Jonny Thomson

Text graphic reading “The Big Think Interview” in bold, uppercase letters with a horizontal line and a downward-facing angle on the left.

Intimate interviews with the world’s biggest thinkers.

A man wearing glasses and a navy blazer speaks while gesturing with his hands against a plain white background.

9mins

The trick that offloads intrusive thoughts so your brain can actually work

David Epstein, author of Range and Inside the Box, breaks down what's actually happening inside the brain when we multitask, and why "just focusing" is a solution that doesn't hold up to reality.

David Epstein

A man wearing glasses and a dark blazer gestures with his left hand while looking forward against a plain light background.

19mins

David Epstein argues that the myth of the lone genius is a story we tell, but the actual history of innovation is far more interesting.

David Epstein

4mins

Play this card game to solve your team’s biggest problem

The $25 card game that unlocks high-achieving teams.

David Sherwin

A man with short blond hair and a beard wearing a black blazer over a maroon shirt sits against a plain light background, facing the camera.

21mins

The 6 triggers of aversion and how to defeat each one

In goal setting, Chris Bailey argues the problem isn't discipline; it's the system itself.

Chris Bailey

Black text on a white background says "STARTS WITH A BANG," with "WITH A" in a smaller, outlined font between "STARTS" and "BANG.

The Universe is out there, waiting for you to discover it.

with Ethan Siegel

The grid features 15 images of distant galaxies, each labeled with identifiers and redshift values from z=4.75 to z=8.92. Captured by JWST, these celestial wonders include intriguing little red dots scattered across the vast cosmos.

The most overlooked fact about JWST’s Little Red Dots

When JWST opened its eyes, it spied a huge number of Little Red Dots. What we saw inside was a puzzle, but what's missing could solve it.

Ethan Siegel

Illustration of the universe’s timeline from the Big Bang to the present, showing key events in cosmic evolution with labeled galaxies, stars, and cosmic structures.

A single illustration reveals the entirety of cosmic history

After a period of cosmic inflation came to an end, the hot Big Bang commenced. 13.8 billion years later, we arrived. Here's how we got here.

Ethan Siegel

A supermassive black hole caught turning on reveals a mesmerizing cosmic dance, with bright streams of light and colorful gases swirling around it against a starry backdrop.

Ask Ethan: How are black holes active if nothing escapes from them?

Once you cross over to the inside of an event horizon, you can never come out again. But then, how do black holes emit all sorts of things?

Ethan Siegel

10 big questions about the search for life beyond Earth

The Universe took a great many steps to create not just life, but intelligent life, here at home. What can we say about life beyond Earth?

Ethan Siegel

The word "BOOKS" with the second "O" stylized as an open book illustration.

Big ideas. Thoughtful conversations. One book at a time.

The book cover for "Empire of Ink" by Alex Wright features an illustration of a vintage printing press with workers, bold red text, and subtle nods to the 1835 moon hoax woven into its design.

The 1835 “moon hoax” that turned fake news into big business

America’s penny press transformed journalism in the 1830s, using hoaxes, sensationalism, and mass circulation to create a blueprint for modern media.

Alex Wright

A grayscale illustration of a muscular figure with curly hair, viewed from behind, appears to be dissolving into scattered particles on a white background, evoking the somber beauty of an angel down.

The literary invention that places you in the chaos of war

In his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Angel Down, Daniel Kraus uses a single unbroken sentence to convey the psychological toll of being a soldier in World War I.

Tim Brinkhof

Book cover of "Socially Wired: How Culture Shapes Our Brains" by Matthew W. Schelke, featuring a colorful neural network illustration on a light background that highlights the connection between brain and meaning.

The overlooked brain system shaping our motivations

Our motivations and sense of self may be more deeply shaped by our connections and social history than we think.

Matthew W. Schelke

The word "nihilism" in bold black font, evoking the mood of literary classics, is scratched out with rough, black scribble marks.

5 literary classics that grapple with the void of nihilism

From mysterious villages to absurdism at the gallows, these books explore the origins, consequences, and possible responses to nihilism.

Scotty Hendricks

Learn business from the world’s biggest thinkers.

Two scenes: Top shows climbers on an ice-covered terrain, embodying fun and success. Bottom captures an airplane in flight against a clear sky.

Play it again: The causal link between fun and resilience

Fun in business is no laughing matter — it can create a golden strategic advantage and bring serious success in the long term.

Eric Markowitz

Four workers assemble a large wooden tank using scaffolding and ladders at an outdoor construction site, with stacks of materials in the background.

The 250-year-old company that survived by refusing to lay people off

What would your company do if it lost all its customers at once?

Eric Markowitz

Book cover for "How Change Really Works" features multicolored lines radiating from a center, with one red line forming an arrow. The design reflects the dynamic process of transformation. Authors' names are displayed at the bottom.

The 3 stories every leader needs to inspire successful transformations

Directives rarely inspire change. The most effective leaders use stories to make transformation memorable, resonant, and actionable.

Julia Dhar

A man stands in front of a collapsed wooden building with debris scattered around in an outdoor setting.

How helping your rivals makes you harder to beat

A counterpoint to zero-sum thinking from Japan.

Eric Markowitz

The image shows the text "Strange Maps" in a stylized black font on a light background.

The world, seen sideways.

with Frank Jacobs

A color-coded map of the United States shows state-by-state data ranging from red (lower values) to green (higher values), with a scale from 102.6K to 133.0K.

Follow the money: Mapping millionaire migration across America

Since 2018, around 103,000 millionaires moved out of California — and 133,000 millionaires moved in to Florida

Frank Jacobs

Children in vintage clothing play on a seesaw and gather nearby in a park setting with adults, trees, and classic playgrounds in the background.

How playgrounds reinvented childhood

The modern playground was more than a place to play — it was a blueprint for a new kind of upbringing.

Frank Jacobs

Four maps of Ireland from 1800, 1850, 1900, and 2000 show a steady decline in areas where Irish is spoken natively, marked in green, nearly disappearing by 2000.

The Irish language is having a moment — and running out of time

Gaeilge is trending culturally. So why is it, according to census data, also dying?

Frank Jacobs

World map showing global oil reserves, rare earth elements deposits (yellow dots), and major shipping routes and chokepoints, with oil reserves highlighted by pink circles of varying sizes.

The Strait of Hormuz is today’s energy chokepoint. China is tomorrow’s.

As the global economy moves beyond oil, the strategic importance of the world’s most critical hydrocarbon chokepoint is likely to decline rapidly.

Frank Jacobs

The number 13.8 displayed in large, bold, black digits on a white background.

Where science meets the human story.

Illustration of Earth overlaid with a grid and energy types from the Kardashev Scale: Type I, II, and III, representing planetary, stellar, and galactic energy usage.

A physicist explains what the Kardashev scale gets wrong

The famous framework ranks civilizations by energy use — but ignores a critical factor that can halt their progress.

Adam Frank

A split image explores the nature of life, with a gray rock on a dark background on the left and a colored microscopic view of a cell—hinting at intelligence—in vivid detail on the right.

Why organisms are more than machines

Sixty years ago, a little-known philosopher challenged how science understands life. His perspective is finding new relevance in the age of artificial intelligence.

Adam Frank