How the James Webb Space Telescope was made. “One way or another the first stars must have influenced our own history, beginning with stirring up everything and producing the other chemical […]
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How Costa Rica achieved 100% renewable energy, and what it means.
46 billion light years in all directions in just 13.8 billion years? Here’s how it’s done! “They say the universe is expanding. That should help with the traffic.” –Steven Wright There are […]
When our imaginations run wild, it’s important to remember that’s our fault, not the data’s. “Otherwise we are trying to communicate with someone who doesn’t exist with a system which doesn’t […]
Is AI about to take over? Or does it struggle to be as smart as a toddler?
And how close does the farthest one we’ve ever found so far come to it? “Science, however, gives me the feeling of steady progress: I am convinced that theoretical physics […]
The similarities between the Universe and a living being are striking and surprising. Could larger entities than us be alive? “Do not look at stars as bright spots only. Try to […]
How we’ll directly take pictures of Earth-like planets in the future! “We stand on a great threshold in the human history of space exploration. If life is prevalent in our neighborhood […]
Is everything astonishingly simple, though? Or is this a grandiose claim that falls flat when confronted with the evidence? “My main interest is the problem of the singularity. If we […]
Our observable Universe is finite, and so is the amount of information in it. Here’s what we may never know. “Despite its name, the big bang theory is not really […]
Mariam Sultana became her country’s first woman with a Ph.D. in astrophysics. This is her story, with an update on where she is now. Mariam Sultana, Pakistan’s very first woman […]
Mama, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Deny Evolution If adults want to deny evolution, sure. That’s fine. Whatever. But those adults better not make their kids follow in […]
Catch MIT scientist Sara Seager take you to the cutting edge and into the future, with a live blog (plus commentary) right here! “Hundreds or thousands of years from now, […]
It’s only a matter of time before another star has a close encounter with our Solar System. How long do we have? “From an incandescent mass we have originated, and […]
All you need are clear skies, a telescope, and a plan. Make it a great one. “For my confirmation, I didn’t get a watch and my first pair of long […]
There are monster galaxies in the Universe thousands of times the size of ours. But none of them are spirals like us! “Sometimes, I sit alone under the starsand think […]
The business world today bears little resemblance to that of 40-50 years ago. Yet for some reason many companies still clutch to the archaic dogmas of strategy developed during that […]
In an exciting development for electric cars, Elon Musk, the C.E.O. of Tesla Motors, has announced on the company’s blog that he’s making all of Telsa’s patents public in the […]
And what it might — and might not — give us useful insights into. Image credit: Karen46 of http://www.freeimages.com/profile/karen46. “The anthropic principle – the idea that our universe has the properties it does because […]
No other idea explains even two of these. Image credit: NASA / CXC / ESO WFI / Magellan composite. Any recent article about the remaining mysteries of the Universe will […]
With the iconic pillars and fairy inside, this star-forming region in our galactic plane just might be the most spectacular of them all. Image credit: ESO, via http://www.eso.org/public/images/eso0926a/. “The most […]
I knew things weren’t going well when I rounded a bend on Ocean Parkway, a highway that slices through the eastern neighborhoods of Brooklyn on its way to Coney Island. […]
We’ve covered the potential for mind-reading before here on Big Think. The technology sounds exciting, but it also brings up terrifying ethical issues. To quote Neil deGrasse Tyson, “we’re moving […]
But with its gaps and unusual structure, we’re lucky it did. “But touch a solemn truth in collision with a dogma of a sect, though capable of the clearest proof, and […]
February to May is talent season for NFL teams. Once the Super Bowl is over, the focus turns to replenishing and upgrading the roster, filling gaps and compensating for weaknesses […]
A galaxy very different from our own may hold the key to seeing what our far future looks like. “We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum […]
Of all the galaxies in our local supercluster, one outweighs them all. “I recognize my limits, but when I look around I realise I am not living, exactly, in a world […]
If you were taught it was Christopher Columbus, you aren’t alone. But just how much we knew thousands of years ago may surprise you! “When Columbus lived, people thought that the […]
On October 15, 2013, the City Council of Cupertino, California, debated for 6 hours before finally approvingApple’s plans for a new $5 billion USD office headquarters to be built in […]
Always paddle back out, because it is the only way you’ll ever get that next wave.