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Jesse Bering is the author of the new book, “Why is the Penis Shaped Like that?: And Other Reflections on Being Human.”  He is well known in my circles as […]

Hello readers. I’ve been on vacation for the last several days. Here’s an old post from my previous blog WhyWeReason.com to fill the void. It’s about a paper by the NYU […]

I’d like to get the Freakonomics guys to explain this paradox of K-12 education:  The more money you spend for your children’s education, the fewer days they’ll actually be educated. […]

US Rep. Todd Akin is a Republican nominee for Senate in Missouri, USA. Akin thinks the US should not support the “morning after pill” (you’ll see why I’ve put that […]

I’ll be honest. I’d hoped to hold out a bit longer before falling back on this staple of any Asian culture column, but it was unavoidable in this case. The […]

If you feel that life is uncomplicated, easy, satisfying, carefree, under control – then this post is not for you. On the other hand, if you feel frustrated, anxious, deeply […]

Noah Millman intervenes sensibly in the great Douthat–Sanchez debate about morality and religion: Okay, so humanists don’t have strong reasons for their faith in human rights. Do Christians have strong […]

Arthur Brooks, president of the conservative American Enterprise Institute, wants to help you, a stalwart supporter of the free enterprise system, to prevail in the coming Thanksgivings’ dinner table debates. […]

The USB stick in your hand contains a zip file with your genome on it. You insert the drive into the side of your computer and click the button on the screen that says “Upload.” The machine spits out a prognosis. The secret to your very own personal happiness.

A Q&A With Christian Wiman, Translator of Stolen Air When Osip Mandelstam died at age 47 in a Siberian work camp under the Stalin regime, he became one of twentieth-century […]

The right brain training regimen that harnessed the brain’s natural plasticity and helped to strengthen these specific cognitive systems might help.

— 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 […]

Francesca Minerva has been receiving death threats. Did she harm anyone? Did she stab, mutilate, or otherwise physically incite people to violence? No: instead she fulfilled her duty as a […]

Aditi Muralidharan demonstrates how natural language processing has not only found its place in the humanities, but has also dramatically sped up the the time it takes to conduct research.

The speed with which KONY 2012 went viral around the world has been stunning. Even if you don’t love the politics of Invisible Children’s “Stop Kony” campaign, it’s hard to […]

What is purpose? Why – particularly in business – does it matter?

Last week, The Wall Street Journal published my opinion editorial, “The ‘God Particle’ and the Origins of the Universe – The search for a unifying theory is nowhere near over.” Subscribers […]

Last month saw the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor that drew the United States into World War II. Sadly, that day of infamy led to a different […]

Steven Pinker is a cognitive psychologist interested in language as a window into the human mind. In this excerpt from his linguistics lecture for the Floating University, he illuminates some of the mysteries surrounding children’s hardwired ability to learn language.

In Monday’s GOP primary debate, Newt Gingrich earned praise from conservatives while drawing justifiable anger from many for his labeling of Barack Obama as the “food stamp president.”  As the […]

The Descendants is the most critically acclaimed film in the theatres right now.  I’m not sure I know quite why. Well, one reason is the excellent track record of its […]

So the Big Think’s AGE OF ENGAGEMENT is advertising a showing of Carl Sagan’s hugely influential film CONTACT.  The film will be shown, appropriately enough, as an excellent example of how […]

Why didn’t humans become as peaceful as we are today tens of thousands of years ago?

I can’t lie. Every polysyllabic word like “maximalist” that President Obama uttered on his Ground Force One tour this week grated on my nerves. And yet, despite using the type […]

The recent controversy in Manila over local artist Mideo Cruz’s Kulo exhibition raises the question of how far an artist can go in terms of religious art in a religious […]

The process of embedding ideas within ideas, which humans seem to do so effortlessly, may be the one true dividing line between animals and humans that may hold up to close scrutiny.

One of the most frustrating experiences one can have is when we are not able to understand each other. The most common but also less frustrating situation is of course […]

In Milwaukee, the fourth-poorest city in America, educators have launched a “guerrilla classroom” initiative that transforms urban locations into impromptu classrooms for parents and children. Across Milwaukee, playgrounds, bus stops […]

A kind of religion has developed around so-called “natural” foods. Hold on, says modernist chef and inventer Nathan Myhrvold. Do you like muffins? Do you like wine and cheese? If so, read on.

A DIALOGUE BETWEEN JASON SILVA AND TECHNO-ECOLOGIC SCHOLAR RICHARD DOYLE Richard Doyle also goes by mobius, an indicator of just how important interconnections are to him – and how transformative, […]