In the seething cesspool of Caravaggio’s Rome, violence was a form of advertisement; it let people know you were, so to speak, the wrong guy to f#@k with. Internationally renowned art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon revisits Caravaggio’s life as a kind of model for career success in tough times.
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This essay was previously published on AlterNet. In the summer of 2010, I saw him several times a week: a portly, dark-skinned gentleman, leaning against a pillar in Penn Station […]
I’d be remiss if I let 2011 slip by without a tribute to Elizabeth Bishop (1911–1979), who was born a century ago and who now looms larger over contemporary poetry […]
The first post in a series looking at John Stuart Mill and the defence of individual liberty. The great English philosopher and thinker John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) regarded himself as […]
Let’s say you’re in the top fifth percentile of avid readers, tearing through a book a week on average. With such literary gusto raising your sails, you might feel like […]
Some studies are finding that male circumcision decreases the odds that a heterosexual man will contract HIV by 57 percent or more. The operation is being performed more frequently.
Introduction to the ‘Killing Ethically’ series Killing can be sign of compassion or malice. This means when discussing killing, I will be using the word in a neutral way: it […]
The rare woods used to make the world’s best guitars may be running short. Companies are experimenting with innovative ways to use their ever-dwindling supplies of prized timber.
We may think we’re free to choose what to eat and how to eat it, but food companies maximize their profits by restricting our choices
Now this is what I call post-romantic. It begins with a fascinating vanguard of “neuromarketing” researchers. These scientist-marketers hook up subjects (consumers) to new biometric technologies such as EEG headsets […]
What’s the Big Idea? Does Kepler-22b really exist? Is there life on this planet? Could we inhabit it? How would we get there? These are a few of the many […]
Around the world, it’s becoming easier than ever to sell your human capital – the sum total of your knowledge, experiences and talents – to the highest bidder. Using new […]
Within any woman who has ever been pregnant, some of her baby’s cells may live for as long as she lives.
Christopher Hitchens has died. I never personally met the man, but I want to say a few words in tribute. Of all the popular figures commonly styled as the New […]
Via Dangerous Intersection, I saw this TED lecture by Daniel Kahnemann, based on his book Thinking Fast and Slow, about the conflict between the “experiencing self” and the “remembering self”. […]
Some days, I hate writing about atheism. I want to tell you why. Two weeks ago, I was watching a PBS show called Inside Nature’s Giants, about a team of […]
People with synesthesia “inhabit a strange no-man’s-land between reality and fantasy. They taste colors, see sounds, hear shapes, or touch emotions in myriad combinations.” We recognize this condition in infants, as well as artists, who seek to defamiliarize perceptions of reality.
Many thoughtful, sensitive people are mature enough to have pierced the romantic illusion and seen through its “promise of perfection” for themselves. The question is, are we spiritually mature enough yet to accept the implications of what we have already seen?
Brain-machine interfaces have already allowed primates to manipulate virtual objects with virtual arms. The technology could ultimately benefit the paralyzed, allowing them to walk.
Once they’re gone, mammalian arms and legs can’t ever be restored. But if you cut off a salamander’s leg it will reappear in just a few weeks. The enigma of amphibian organ regeneration has long puzzled scientists. Now, a new wave of scientists hopes to put it to use.
Like its own self-sustaining chain reaction, the battle over nuclear power rages on. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has for the first time since 1978 approved construction of new nuclear reactors. […]
From all of us here at Big Think, Happy 70th birthday, Stephen! If you had only been one of the smartest humans ever, it would have been enough – but you’re something much bigger than that: a model of how to live.
It’s that time again – the annual making of New Year resolutions. We all do it. A well thought out list of good intentions that we will execute faithfully on […]
I recently participated in a “relationship summit” on break ups. I don’t know how wise or helpful I was. When it comes to break-up and heartache recovery, I’m not sure […]
The human papillomavirus (HPV) causes more instances of throat cancer in men than smoking, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
News that Helen Frankenthalerdied yesterday at the age of 83 after a long illness is making a lot of people recall just how important a figure the self-described “saddle-shoed girl […]
Innovation – everyone says they want it, but when it’s time to personally embrace it and change what they do everyday there is often reluctance, if not outright resistance. In […]
A single dose of the hallucinogen psilocybin, the active ingredient in ‘magic mushrooms,’ brings about a measurable and lasting personality change—’openness’—lasting at least a year.
In honor of that award, we’re republishing a segment from our October interview with Abed, in which he talks about what women and girls can teach the world.
Do holiday sales make your palms sweat with anticipation? That’s because they’re designed to. “There’s a very, very deep art and science to pricing,” says Lee Eisenberg, author of Shoptimism. Watch as he explains the tricks of the trade and how you can avoid them.