Technology & Innovation — September 11, 2009

Big Think Sits Down With Nestle’s Chairman

Tucked away on the north shore of Switzerland’s Lake Geneva is a town called Vevey. It’s home to Nestle’s headquarters, as well as its former CEO and now Chairman Peter Brabeck. We were lucky enough to catch up with him a couple weeks ago. The story of how Brabeck came to spend 40 years at Nestle is a peculiar one. For a while, he didn’t even realize he was employed by the food giant- he thought he was just selling ice cream! For someone who started skiing at age two and hasn’t stopped, life has been full of adventures. Perhaps most interestingly, we had a chance to delve into Brabeck’s true passion, one that rarely comes up at your average American dinner table: the water crisis. He’s convinced we’ll run out of it before we run out of oil. His idea for a remedy? Water simply cannot be free.

Starts With A Bang

The idea that matter is mostly empty space is mostly wrong

Practically all of the matter we see and interact with is made of atoms, which are mostly empty space. Then why is reality so... solid?

Strange Maps

America’s news deserts are growing

Most counties in the U.S. have only one local newspaper, often one that publishes weekly instead of daily.

Two people walking past a dark brick wall with numerous security cameras pointing in various directions.

The Present

Are smart cities a wise idea?

When Google runs a smart city, who owns the data?

Illustration of a young woman with closed eyes, smiling, next to a large, detailed eye and surrounded by vibrant, abstract elements and smiley faces.

Neuropsych

Eyes wide shut: Why closing your eyes intensifies psychedelic trips

A recent study suggests that exposure to visual stimuli can diminish the effects of psychedelic drugs.

Starts With A Bang

The big idea of Grand Unified Theories of physics

If the electromagnetic and weak forces unify to make the electroweak force, maybe, at higher energies, something even grander happens?

Up Next

Politics & Current Affairs

Diff’rent Folks, Diff’rent Intelligences

If you’ve ever been comforted by the fact that, though calculus is Greek to you, you’ve always been “good with words,” or that, though you can’t spell to save your […]