We’ve learned more about comets than ever before thanks to it. But we would’ve learned a lot more, if not for one unfounded fear. “Every dreamer knows that it is […]
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A new Gallup poll shows that Americans’ confidence in print and television news is at an all-time low. Losing the hearts and minds of the American people also means losing influence over the collective societal zeitgeist.
Some scientists believe that humanity’s best shot at colonizing other planets lies in working within existing physics using organisms — in this case, bacteria encoded with human DNA — that can survive the trip.
There are many reasons and good approaches, but this advice applies to everyone. “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”-Maya Angelou Each one of us […]
How glassworker Loren Stump’s artwork is pushing the boundaries of the artform into uncharted waters. “I guess I just prefer to see the dark side of things. The glass is […]
The marketplace of ideas would be a lot stodgier and less fluid—and more dangerously larded with lies—if it weren’t for humor. As Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert show night after […]
Newly designated World Heritage sites in France, Botswana, and the United States push UNESCO’s list into the quadruple digits.
The East Japan Railway Company hasn’t forgotten customer service. Foot baths and sake are an available courtesy to customers traveling on their new bullet train two-hour service between Shinjo and […]
Deceive your eyes with this amazing art technique that makes 2-D drawings come alive! “The contemporaries and rivals of Zeuxis were Timanthes, Androcydes, Eupompus, and Parrhasius. This last, it is said, […]
Are we becoming too obsessed with the idea that people can’t think straight? When I began blogging here at BigThink five years ago, I would have said no. After all, […]
New polling data out of Gallup has found that attending an elite university doesn’t result in a happier or more productive graduate.
What happens when honey bees feed on M&Ms? “My therapist told me the way to achieve true inner peace is to finish what I start. So far today, I have finished […]
A version of the Hollywood Sci-Fi Museum could debut as soon as 2015.
The concept of wearable computing is undeniably compelling. I myself have been totally seduced by the promise that these strap-on computers can and will lead us toward a better and […]
You’ve got to see what happens when this man realizes he’s talking to the living legend herself. Image credit: GayCalgary Magazine, via http://www.gaycalgary.com/Magazine.aspx?id=109&article=3182. “I’m just thankful that I’m still here. […]
In the writings of Thomas Hobbes, the great 17th-century political theorist, we find a keen analysis of the danger ISIS poses to civilized life in the 21st century.
Maybe so, but everything depends on what your faith is grounded on. Begin by recalling the thought experiment English theologian William Paley proposed in 1802: while traipsing across a field, […]
An Idaho School Board is considering a new social media policy that forbids teachers from friending, following, or posting about students and their parents. The policy change stems from an incident involving a high school basketball teacher who was fired over a controversial photo.
With all the matter-and-energy so close together and so dense at the moment of the Big Bang, why didn’t it recollapse? Image credit: Mark A. Garlick / University of Warwick. […]
What’s a good scientist to do when your theory predicts something absurd? “He who loves practice without theory is like the sailor who boards ship without a rudder and compass […]
The creator of television shows such as Scandal and Grey’s Anatomy told Dartmouth graduates on Sunday to fight for causes with action, not hashtags. Her attack on Twitter (in)activism has been lauded by some, panned by others.
Nothing in nature works quite like money. Or seems as complex as an economy. I’d welcome counterexamples, but something seems fishy. 1. Here’s the usual big picture: Competitive markets allocate […]
We observe our Universe as it is today: 13.8 billion years old and full of galaxies. What would we see 100 billion years from now? “It is always wise to look […]
Recently a good friend told me over a pint in our local pub that he hadn’t been able to sleep a wink for two nights. He’d been left traumatised by […]
A recent study published in Psychology of Women Quarterly reveals that most women are disgusted by the thought of female body hair or the thought of themselves not shaving. The stigma of female body hair no doubt stems from societal pressure, but perhaps there’s a scientific explanation as well.
The only way out is to modify the laws of gravity, and new constraints rule those modifications out. “The discrepancy between what was expected and what has been observed has […]
This week the Federal Election Commission gave permission for political action committees to accept the cryptocurrency. They can also purchase Bitcoin with existing funds, but they can’t use it to buy goods or services.
It’s all relative, but what you might have seen probably isn’t accurate. “There is no such thing as perpetual tranquillity of mind while we live here; because life itself is […]
There are a lot of great things about being single and living on your own for the first time — I moved to my first “real” apartment in February after […]
Harvard scientists have created a bioplastic using silk protein and a commonly-found organic substance that gives the shells their strength. The substance, shrilk, biodegrades in a matter of weeks, and its residue encourages plant growth.