Demanding appropriate levels of skepticism and scrutiny isn’t cruelty, but rather demonstrates scientific integrity and intellectual honesty. Every few months, a novel headline will fly across the world, claiming to […]
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If you think you can just take a test and demonstrate your scientific literacy, think again. “Through basic science literacy, people can understand the policy choices we need to be making. […]
It might not be an actual supernova remnant, but thanks to 3D printing, it’s the next best thing! This article was written by Kim Kowal Arcand. Kim is the Visualization Lead […]
With current technology, things might take generations. But that could be greatly reduced with a little help. “Oh, yes — I know you. There was a time you looked at the stars and […]
In principle, they could, of course. But around bizarre star KIC 8462852? Probably not. “The fancy that extraterrestrial life is by definition of a higher order than our own is […]
Gene Roddenberry would have celebrated his 95th birthday today. Many of his ideas have become reality, but some never will. “‘Star Trek’ says that it has not all happened, it […]
Is looking for radio transmissions in space like claiming the lack of smoke signals means there are no modern humans? “[W]hat Fermi immediately realized was that the aliens have had […]
Throwback Thursday: How Dark Matter’s #1 Competitor Died The only way out is to modify the laws of gravity, and our best observations rule those modifications out. “The discrepancy between […]
The most powerful telescope in history will never see the farthest galaxy. “No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded […]
Whether you loved the original series or never saw it, it changed our world. “An ancestor of mine maintained that when you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must […]
What it means if there’s no life anywhere else in the Universe, and what we know so far. “Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves […]
How can salmon get upstream when their waters are blocked by dams? You’ve got to see this new innovation! Image credit: William Bain / flickr. “You ain’t supposed to get […]
Is there a way to see past the barrier the Universe puts up before it became transparent to light? Image credit: Mark Kamionkowski, of gravitational waves. “From earliest times, humans — explorers […]
What is Punk? Punk isn’t about mohawks or studded leather, says Henry Rollins – it’s about resistance to tyranny in any form. How Art Can Change Society, with Sarah Lewis Sarah […]
The incredible story of the record-breaking red planet’s rover. “In any field, find the strangest thing and then explore it.”–John Archibald Wheeler Sometimes, things get difficult. Sometimes, there are challenges […]
Peter Singer: There’s been an enormous amount of changing forces on warfare in the twenty-first century. And they range from new actors in war like private contractors, the black waters […]
Your first philosophers: Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, Seneca, and one strange new face. Why the first books people read about Stoicism should be by one of these guys. On Stoicism Graduation season […]
Big Think Mentor connects world-class mentors with a global community of smart, driven users to teach the habits of mind and people skills we need to live happier, healthier, more productive lives.
Public opinion about climate change, observes the New York Times’ Andrew Revkin, can be compared to “waves in a shallow pan,” easily tipped with “a lot of sloshing but not […]
This past spring semester, American University hosted an event featuring Roger Pielke Jr., a Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Colorado-Boulder and author of The Climate Fix: What […]
Last week in NYC, we attended the Economist's summit on “Intelligent Infrastructure,” which covered investment issues, new technologies, scenarios for urban growth, and sociological questions about the future role of the city.
This semester, 22 undergraduate and graduate students from a diversity of majors at American University have participated in a new course that I created titled “Science, Environment and the Media.” […]
The idea of a coming Singularity refers to a point in time of radical exponential progress, beyond which our minds can't imagine—the technological counterpart to an event horizon in a black hole.
We don’t know about you, but we’re a little tired of conventional web searches. If you want to search anything (say Egypt), Google obediently proffers a number of sites starting […]
No one has a crystal ball, but some predictions that I made in recent years are coming into sharp focus with every scientific advance. For starters, every year, more organs […]
“Wow, how did they do that?” We were watching Tron: The Legacyin 3-D, and our friend was marveling at how 61 year-old Jeff Bridges appeared as young as a man […]
This is the third guest post by Trina Stout in an AoE series on the communication strategies surrounding Colorado’s Amendment 62 – a ballot initiative that, if passed, would grant […]
Alan Boyle, the science editor for MSNBC.com, answers our questions about science, the mainstream media and the fallout of the Chilean earthquake coverage.
About 20% of journal articles published in the sciences, social sciences, and the humanities are open-access, meaning that only about 1 out of every 5 articles are immediately or eventually […]
Part 1 of the Q&A from Dr. Boris Behncke of the Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Catania.