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New businesses in Silicon Valley and Alley have tremendous power over what it will mean to be human in the coming decades. And with great power comes great responsibility. We […]

Optimism Bias – “Things will work out okay” or “things will work out better for me than the next guy” or, simply, “It won’t happen to ME!” – is one the mental games we play in order to do the things we want to do even when those choices come with costs or danger. 

The gap between invention and implementation is beset by a bias: when in doubt we prefer the status quo, even when solutions to deficiencies are apparent. Is it any wonder […]

Well, if all you had to go by is tonight’s debate, you’d have to say yes. Romney’s presentations were clearer, tighter, more incisive, more eloquent, more factually detailed, and more […]

Last spring, I wrote about the Secular Coalition for America’s new executive director, Edwina Rogers, a Republican lobbyist whose selection raised more than a few eyebrows. While I had (and […]

As more details about the Petraeus Affair leak out, it’s becoming increasingly clear that marriage infidelity is no longer what it used to be. The digital trail of a cheating […]

Since my post on the U.S. embassy riots had so many good comments, I thought I’d write a sequel and continue the discussion. I’d like to offer some further thoughts […]

A second Mona Lisa? One made even earlier than the one hanging in the Louvre? It sounds almost too good to be true, and probably is. A Swiss-based organization calling […]

I’ve written in the past about the Secret, more properly called the Law of Attraction, the perenially popular New Age idea which says that merely thinking about something draws it […]

The idea of forgery resonates more than ever today in a culture in which “the open exchange of ideas has been rebranded as piracy.” 

Congratulations to Drs. S. Haroche and D. Wineland for winning the Nobel Prize in Physics. (It may be too early for Peter Higgs to win the Nobel Prize for the […]

According to a new study, fathers who co-sleep with their kids experience lower levels of testosterone. The findings imply that the ability to nurture children has a deeper biological basis than previously suspected.

If art can help us hold onto memories, can it help us when we lose them to aging or disease? In Creative Aging, which runs through November 30, 2012 at […]

As you probably know by now, my friend Greta Christina was diagnosed with cancer last week, and she’s having surgery today. In the grand scheme of things, it could have […]

For those of us who are committed to creating a better world how do we respond to the evil and heinous acts of our violent past? I just got back […]

My latest article has just been published on AlterNet, Why Is America’s Most Progressive Voting Block Often Overlooked? In it, I discuss the strong progressive leanings of American nonbelievers, what […]

         Americans have always disagreed, about a lot. Somehow though, we’ve managed to get along with each other while we do. Why, then, has disagreeing become so nasty, so fierce, […]

Effectively engaging the American public on climate change—including its causes, impacts, and solutions—remains both a major research question and a communication challenge. Effective public engagement requires understanding the cognitive, affective, […]

As anyone who’s been watching the presidential debate series knows, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid comprise some of today’s pivotal political talking points, even if it’s not always clear what […]

Last week, Jen McCreight announced that she was fed up with sexism in the atheist movement and called for a new wave of atheist activism, one explicitly concerned with social […]

Military adaptation of mobile technology has been limited due to a lack of communications access in remote areas. However, one company is looking to bring smartphone-like devices to soldiers in the field.

Recently two brothers named Chaplin created the smallest book in the world. Their tiny tome, Teeny Ted from Turnip Town, is etched on a microchip narrower than the width of a […]

Back in July, I wrote about how the Secular Student Alliance’s website had been targeted by denial-of-service attacks. In that post, I called on Christians and other theists to donate […]

If Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie reign as the premier power couple of Hollywood, then Seymour Chwast and Paula Scher deserve credit as the “Brangelina” of  the world of graphic […]

A company is bringing old science fiction titles back to life as e-books using a fair and sustainable business model, garnering praise from authors and readers alike.

“Are You Married?” is supposed to be a YES/NO question, and not a short essay format. Still, in the exam blue book of life, some might prefer to give a […]

Most short lists of greatest living artists will have names such as David Hockney, Gerhard Richter, (BigThink.com’s own) Ai Weiwei, Cindy Sherman, Damien Hirst, or Jeff Koons. But who would […]

We live in an amazing era of technology-driven transformation that’s redefining how we sell, market, communicate, collaborate, innovate, train, and educate—all in an amazingly short period of time. With that […]

A good thing about ELECTIONS is that they remind us we have a CONSTITUTION. They especially remind us that we’re a really, really constitutional people. Lots of Americans really hate […]

I’m going to write the unpopular thing and go Tough Love on my own people.  A modest proposal: Women need to act like the successful grown-ups that they are or […]