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A word about Big Ideas and Themes — The architecture of Big Think
Big ideas are lenses for envisioning the future. Every article and video on bigthink.com and on our learning platforms is based on an emerging “big idea” that is significant, widely relevant, and actionable. We’re sifting the noise for the questions and insights that have the power to change all of our lives, for decades to come. For example, reverse-engineering is a big idea in that the concept is increasingly useful across multiple disciplines, from education to nanotechnology.
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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“Young people looking to break into the creative industries are to be given a boost, after the government confirmed £1.3 million of funding to help create 200 new jobs in the sector. They will be open to people aged 18-24, who have been claiming benefits, and will include posts such as theatre ...
“If you're logging in for the first time in a few days and catching up on health care reform, you've probably read a few articles about how the issue will play in the 2010 midterm elections, assuming Congress passes a bill sometime early in the new year. Some people think the issue will help the ...
“On a quiet August day in 2002, a physics professor named George Gollin was working in his office at the University of Illinois when an ad popped up on his computer screen. The product on offer: college degrees. In a nearby computer lab, the ads leaped from one monitor to another, seeming to spread ...
“Japanese researchers said Monday they had developed a "hummingbird robot" that can flutter around freely in mid-air with rapid wing movements. The robot, a similar size to a real hummingbird, is equipped with a micro motor and four wings that can flap 30 times per second, said Hiroshi Liu, the ...
This week's installment of What Went Wrong includes an interview with the former head council for AIG, Ernest Patrikis. He weighs in on what could have happened if the Fed didn't bail out AIG. Mark Zandi, the chief economist and co-founder of Moody's Economy.com, chats about a fantasy world without ...
Kudos to Matthew Urbanksi, the principle landscape architect (Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates) charged with mapping the natural layout of a new $3.8 million Manhattan playground. Urbanski thought to consult experts in cognitive development at North Carolina State University before deciding where ...
While flipping through a copy of the New Yorker magazine earlier today, I came across an article written by Burkhard Bilger titled "Hearth Surgery", which took a look at the efforts of a group of scientists and engineers to create an inexpensive and efficient cook stove for use in Third World ...
Since last September's Los Angeles readers' meetup went so well, I think it's time to repeat the experiment! Next month, I'll be in St. Louis, Missouri over Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend, January 16th and 17th. Are there any readers in the area who would be interested in meeting up? If so ...
The Economist’s Christmas Issue one-act, “Gordon Rex,” might be funny or—in that uniquely English, Economist-y way—slightly self-consciously aloof, but it makes us long for more. More Brown in verse. More ghost of Tony Blair. More Chrous of Labor MPs. More plays of politicians, generally. We’ve ...
Of all the writers to emerge from the psychedelic '60s, few have endured as long at the top of their craft as Robert Stone. In a candid interview with Big Think, the former Beat fellow-traveler, Merry Prankster, and Vietnam War correspondent discusses whether he misses the decade he memorialized in ...
Soufriere Hills on Montserrat in an undated image from the Royal Navy. Just wanted to pass along this bit of news: the current eruptions at Soufriere Hills on Montserrat are prompting cancellations of over 40 flights today from Puerto Rico. This is due to the ash plumes from the current dome ...
The trusty visitor counter suggests that Waq al-waq has had several hundred new visitors to the blog yesterday. So, first: Welcome. Second for those of you looking for history of AQAP I would recommend that you either watch the video or read the transcript of this event from Carnegie from July ...
News Yemen, which is run by Nabil al-Sufi, has an absolutely fascinating article today on a tribal meeting that was convened by the Arhab tribe in an attempt to decide how to respond to the arrests of several of its young men. The meeting took place at Qa'a al-Zafaq the historic meeting place for ...
Nations involved in World Wars I and II had a different ratio of male births to female than they had in peacetime, and the effect persisted for a few years after the wars had ended. It was a very slight tilt in favor of boys. The demographics suggest that for some reason men who fought in the ...
Mareb Press is reporting that there was an RPG attack on a military check point in Shabwa this morning. The article suggests that the attack came in Ratiq days after a threatening letter, which was attributed to al-Qaeda, was found in a local high school.