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If you’re a parent and you want to introduce your child to art, it’s sometimes hard to find that perfect combination of optimism and imagination in a single artist. Too […]

The real world has never been more real, with the latest proof being the release of the much-hyped Retina Display on the new iPad from Apple. This new tablet screen, […]

Ever wondered how you were supposed to keep up with the never-ending stream of content and data in your life? Not to worry, the elves of the Internet are busy […]

Bioethicist Paul Root Wolpe questions the basic premise of the Singularity concept, arguing that it “misunderstands the complex nature of biological and physical life.” 

I recently revisited What Would Google Do? by Jeff Jarvis and was struck by how it spoke to me about the needs of today’s schools. Here are a few points […]

Since moving to Big Think, there’s a viewpoint I’m encountering more and more often. This belief holds that the New Atheism is tilting at windmills, because most religion is moderate […]

Summary: The Roman Catholic equivalent of Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s “Infidel”. A luminous, extraordinary account of one woman who devoted her life to Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity, saw the organization […]

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Daniel Junge shined a spotlight on Pakistani women who endured the physical and emotional pain of acid attacks in the documentary Saving Face. The filmmakers followed Dr. […]

A couple of months ago, physicists at CERN, Switzerland, claimed they had found a fatal flaw in Einstein’s theory of relativity. Their findings immediately lit up the Internet with activity, […]

In Defence of Hamza Kashgari The chalk outline of societal protection is increasingly being coloured in by personal offense and we’re left with a corpse called justice. Yet, whatever name […]

Why do skeptics bother to debunk quackery if the rational adult who chooses to use these unverified methods harms no-one but himself?

Using money she had received for her 30th birthday, Zoe Strauss bought a camera in 2000 and began shooting a 10-year project that had previously existed only in her imagination. […]

Chinese students are attracted to American universities, but what can be done to keep their skills in the country after graduation?

This post was written by Preetika Rana and originally published on the Wall Street Journal blog India Real Time. Recent claims that the Taj Mahal is in danger of collapsing […]

Several mysteries currently bedevil physicists such as our inability to account for an expanding universe and an apparent exception to the cosmological principle of uniform laws.

Your mobile wireless carrier may soon have a say in the way you think about health and wellness. AT&T, through its Emerging Devices unit, plans to offer for sale health-tracking […]

–Guest post by Judy Millili, American University graduate student. In today’s technologically-driven digital age, consumers are constantly inundated with drug advertisements that encourage active engagement in making decisions related to their […]

Bill Glod, a philosopher who works at the libertarian Institute for Humane Studies (I used to work there, too), offers an interesting short discussion on the limits of the common […]

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.

Great Big Ideas, the first Floating University course, features twelve of the most important thinkers and practitioners in their fields. These lecturers are constantly making news, and in this blog, […]

Yesterday I received from an old friend and partner the document below. As most of you, if not all, maintain accounts at both banks and brokers, or at least one […]

“Biophysicists have calculated natural system couldn’t get faster, more sensitive or more efficient without first relocating to an alternate universe with alternate physical constants.”

Technology and constant connectivity offer us the promise of never being bored again. But at what price? Cognitive overload, lost concentration… 

Wise leaders like Gurbaksh Chahal create strong, adaptable organizations by hiring––and relying upon––driven entrepreneurs who share the core vision but have vivid dreams of their own. 

Hopefully on this somber anniversary we can turn hindsight into wisdom, and realize that we have paid a terribly high price for the way fear has shaped the new normal since that terrible day.

Today’s lesson from Sherlock Holmes deals with learning to cull and to cultivate knowledge in such a way that your decision process will be optimized for the question at hand, […]

Have you ever seen the French film Trop Belle Pour Toi? It’s the story of a married car dealer who has an affair with his very ordinary secretary. Doesn’t sound […]

Jean Jacques Rousseau called cities “…the abyss of the species“. Well, they may not be that bad, but with their crowding and competition and noisy get-ahead in-your-face rat race environments, […]

In order to grapple with the future, we must first take a big step back and understand the historical pattern of technology disruptions. The story begins by recalling the original […]

Our memories affect our choices. It makes a whole lot of sense: we decide based on what we know.  And if we don’t have any experience with a particular decision, […]