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Themes are the seven broad umbrellas under which we organize the hundreds of big ideas that populate Big Think. They include New World Order, Earth and Beyond, 21st Century Living, Going Mental, Extreme Biology, Power and Influence, and Inventing the Future.
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Communication, culture, and public affairs
For Washington, DC readers, please join us and spread the word about the presentation tomorrow (Wed. April 25) at American University by Timothy Caulfield, among Canada’s leading experts in the area of public health, law, and bioethics. His lecture marks the U.S. release of his first popular book ...
For the last half of this semester's seminar on Science, the Environment, and the Media, students have been applying fundamental principles and theories from the first part of the course to understanding the dynamics of several contemporary science-related controversies. You can find the reading ...
At Canada's Globe and Mail today, University of Alberta professor of law Tim Caulfield observes that North American culture appears to have lost its infatuation with genetics and stem cell research. As he writes: It is not that genetics and stem cell research haven’t delivered. They have, at ...
Over the past year, I've read about a half dozen of Norwegian crime writer Jo Nesbo's novels. If you are heading on vacation this summer, I recommend you pick a few up at the bookstore. Now the first of his books appears in U.S. theaters with the April 27 release of the Danish film Headhunters ...
For Washington, DC readers, please join us and spread the word about the Wed. April 25 presentation at American University by Timothy Caulfield, among Canada’s leading experts in the area of public health, law, and bioethics. His lecture marks the U.S. release of his first popular book, “The Cure ...
As I've argued on climate change, localizing the issue is one way to overcome the polarization that has paralyzed national-level action. And this strategy holds not just for climate, but a range of other issues, argues Brookings Institution Vice President Bruce Katz and Rockefeller Foundation ...
In a Q&A interview with Jason Zengerle of New York magazine, outgoing Congressman Barney Frank offers a diagnosis of several of the major drivers of polarization in American politics that fits with much of the political communication work in the area. Frank focuses on the trend of demonizing the ...
The news service for the College of Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin has a good summary of a recent article at The Scientist by several colleagues who spotlight a possible backfire effect in using public meetings to engage the public on science policy. Town hall meetings may be ...
--Guest post by Erin Brett, American University graduate student. Last month, in advance of April Fools Day, CBS Morning News correspondent and satirist Mo Rocca met with the cast of MythBusters to examine how the Internet has made it easier to bring false information into our lives, not just on ...
--Guest post by Nicole Federica, American University student. News reports tracking the obesity epidemic in the United States offer a range of possible explanations for the problem. These include government policy, income disparity, food marketing and advertising, a consumption-based culture ...
--Guest post by Alyssa Martori, American University graduate student. People around the world working toward environmental preservation, conservation, and sustainability are often described as part of a global environmental movement. But for decades this movement has been hindered by a lack of ...
--Guest post by Josephine Chu, graduate student at American University. In the last ten years, the rise of a variety of web-based and social media platforms has dramatically changed the role of the science journalist. No longer do people have to rely on traditional media to learn about a new ...
-- Guest post by Emma Waldman, American University student. Scientist-turned filmmaker Randy Olson argues that it takes more than literal-minded facts and information to communicate about topics like climate change to the public. People will not care about science unless it relates to them ...
--Guest post by Amanda Frank, graduate student at American University. Contemporary debates over climate change reveal the inherent complexity of the issue, which the New York Times' Andrew Revkin refers to as a “beyond super wicked” problem. In a presentation last year to the Google Science ...
Call me a proud alum. If you haven't yet heard of Jim Yong Kim, the Dartmouth College president nominated by Obama today to head the World Bank, then welcome to a galactic superstar in the making. Only three years into his tenure at Dartmouth, I am disappointed to potentially see Kim go, but his ...