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Has the rise of celebrity architects over the past couple of decades been good or bad for the design of buildings, generally? New Yorker architecture critic Paul Golberger says that […]

We all think we know what it means to be conscious, but it is hard to pin this down in a precise, scientific way—as USC neuroscientist Antonio Damasio explains in our video. Every weekday in September, Big Think will offer a new insight into the human brain in our new "Going Mental" blog.

At NewYorkTimes.com, Alex Kaplun of Greenwire reports on emails exchanged among several prominent climate scientists regarding possible plans to fight back against the “neo-McCarthyism” of political leaders such as James […]

Why is it so important to provide the wider American public with readily available and scientifically accurate “frames” that re-package complex issues in ways that make them personally meaningful and […]

As the wake of destruction trailing the Gulf oil spill continues to look increasingly dark, I can’t help but think back to the speech that Interior Secretary Salazar made when […]

Oil leaking from a British Petroleum pipe under the sea floor in the Gulf of Mexico has reached land slicking wildlife habitats on the Southern U.S. coast, as well as […]

From restarting the economy to dealing with climate change, society’s biggest questions turn on how they are defined by advocates and the news media and acted upon by the public […]

Not merely a nice flower, but also a political tool

If most maps are like meat and potatoes, these are like fruit and dessert

I have railed against some of the shortcomings during the BP oil well blowout with great vigor during the past few weeks. I wanted to know why we weren’t getting […]

Few people have felt the muzzle of an automatic machine gun in their gut, let alone survived a kidnapping on their birthday. In January 1998, then-federal prosecutor Stanley Alpert was […]

Sometimes I just don’t get it. Whether it is climate change, evolution, or vaccination, the more literal minded among science bloggers and pundits typically blame science journalists for breakdowns in […]

Over the weekend, Andrew Revkin at the NY Timeswrote a very timely and important peice detailing the growing unease among many scientists and policy experts with the new “normal’ in […]

Last year, betacup extended a challenge to the creative community to rethink the coffee cup from a sustainable angle that eliminates the 58 million disposable cups America tosses in the […]

When attempting to communicate effectively with the public about a science-related debate, which is more important, framing the message or conveying science-based facts about the topic?  A forthcoming study (Word) […]

Salon.com explains the unintended moral messages we should have taken from the fate of Jack, Kate, Sawyer and the rest of the cast on last night's series finale of Lost.

Because dark energy doesn’t dilute as the universe expands, it will ultimately speed up that expansion exponentially, turning the cosmos into a giant void.

In the wake of the Aug. 23 court decision that halted Federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, Democrats are gearing up to use stem cell research as a wedge […]

If we are going to cut carbon emissions by 90 percent from their levels in the 1990s, we’re going to have to make a lot more clean energy than you […]

On the road from Korea’s world-class Incheon airport, across the spectacular eight-mile long humpback bridge to the landmark new Songdo International Business District development, we encountered a heavy fog that reminded […]

We should be focusing on making solar panels, windmills and other green energy sources so cheap that everybody will want to buy them.

Bill Gates argues that private enterprise is insufficient to meet our renewable energy goals; public funds are best suited for critical research and development.

Dr. Fatih Birol, the chief economist of the International Energy Agency, says he has never owned a car. While he admits his decision may seem “unusual” to people in the […]

Last week I presented at a workshop hosted by AAAS on “Promoting Climate Literacy Through Informal Science.” There were a number of outstanding presentations and themes discussed including a plenary […]

How do you activate an otherwise disinterested Republican base on the issue of global warming? As we argued in our Policy Forum article at Science, two possible frames are to […]

BP has been using controlled burns to limit the spread of oil in the Gulf of Mexico. In the process they are burning much of what wildlife remains in the […]

James Hansen, NASA climate scientist, has argued strongly against Cap and Trade legislation, promoted the need for a carbon tax, complained of muzzling by the Bush administration, and has even […]

n They did a lot of crazy stuff in the Sixties, man. Especially at universities like Berkeley, a hotbed of political radicalism, of experiments with free love and cheap drugs  (or […]

Unfortunately, no one source of renewable energy will be able to hold a candle to fossil fuel.

A process that mimics photosynthesis could create a fuel that provides energy in a convenient form.