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Human thinking is antiquated.

We all employ heuristics to help us deal with the world. But when we make a hasty generalization, we risk making a big error in our thinking.

A five-year-old reading a picture book in her pillow fort. A college student and his friends at the midnight matinee. A ninety-year-old watching her soaps. What do they have in […]

 The first response to big, bad news is likely to be widespread panic — it’s human nature. Yet, says risk communication expert David Ropeik, you can actually strengthen a team’s […]

For many, 2020 will not be remembered as a “best of” much. We don’t need to repeat the reasons here; it’s sufficient to point out that a 100-year pandemic was […]

Every year, companies try to do things better, to find the most effective way to complete some task or to improve overall productivity. Employee learning programs play a massive part […]

Which team you support tells others about your background and where your history lies. And the superstitions we obey in support of our team are a classic example of tribal loyalty.

Questioning the power of individual choice.

Those who want to keep Syrian refugees out of the country are succumbing to a classic error of logical reasoning. 

Twenty-one strangers with different values and views, thrown together on a Grand Canyon rafting trip, managed to set aside those differences and build community.

Why are we ready to hold big corporations legally liable for lying, but not all the other advocates whose manipulation of the truth does society real harm!?

Climate change doesn't have the emotional characteristics that make it truly deep-in-your-heart scary. Leaders will have to act anyway.

Coming together after a tragedy is equally tribal as causing the tragedy in the first place.

Most Americans want reasonable gun safety laws, and in a democracy, the majority is supposed to win. Why isn't it working that way with gun control?

Personal attacks on a speaker, especially about their funding, are a sign that the attacker can't dispute the facts the speaker is presenting. Beware the attacker too.

When vaccine skeptics are presented with statements about the benign nature of vaccines, they double down on their skepticism rather than softening their bias.

After a recent Intelligence Squared U.S. debate the audience turns in their votes as 'for' GMOs. But some scientists, like Bill Nye, still aren't convinced.

Quote of the day: “We have art in order not to die of the truth.” – Friedrich Nietzsche Today’s Big Ideas: The National Intelligence Council’s New Report, by Ali Wyne […]

The noise of the long campaign may not only be annoying, but also bad for your health. Big Think experts suggest effective ways for dealing with the over-consumption of information.

How can the government change the framework of choices that particular people are faced with so that their own small errors in risk perception don’t expose the whole of society?  

Let’s say you’re just now tuning in to reports that the world will end on December 21 when the Mayan calendar resets to zero. Maybe you’re one of the 35 […]

What’s the Big Idea? Why do we so often form opinions about things that fly in the face of the evidence? We do this all the time — whether it […]

When it comes to cancer, there may be more to fear than fear itself, but our negative emotions do have an adverse impact on our health, says risk analyst David Ropeik. 

"If all medicines in the world were thrown into the sea, it would be all the better for mankind and all the worse for the fishes."

A forthcoming paper explores the biomedical modification of humans in order to stop us from consuming red meat. This would have a mitigating effect on climate change. 

Many of the cognitive tools (heuristics and biases) that we use for all sorts of decision-making also influence our choices about risk.

David Ropeik, a leading expert in risk communication, has joined Big Think as a regular blogger.  Among his inaugural posts at “Risk: Reason and Reality,” Ropeik discusses a fascinating new […]

In a front-page story at today’s Washington Post, David Brown spotlights research on the comparative risks of nuclear and coal power.  As Brown reviews, nuclear power is far less of […]

In a post today, risk communication expert and AoE guest contributor David Ropeik focuses on how journalists covering common health risks such as mercury in fish or endocrine disruptors in […]

In guest post today, David Ropeik, author of “How Risky Is It,” takes a critical look at President Obama’s assertion in the days leading up to the election that many […]