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If Europe has one defining cultural characteristic, it is that it has none. This may sound like too neat a paradox, but it’s not that far from the truth. There […]

More than 50 years after the publication of CP Snow’s seminal Two Cultures, interdisciplinary partnerships between science and other academic “cultures” are being urged once again. Today, the focus is […]

“We may not know why we sleep, dream or wake up, but these states are never static,” writes author Siri Hustvedt. There is a continuum of perception from unconsciousness to full self-consciousness.

There was brief speculation in the media about using nuclear weapons to seal up the raging oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. I think this is a bad idea, […]

Would days spent reading Proust make us more attentive? The Times cover story today implies, Yes. New research argues against the opposing onslaught: video games, iPods; inevitable, en masse drift […]

We’ve discussed the Ancient Greeks’ snowglobe vision of the Universe(#288), tackled the far-out theories of the Hollow Earth (#85), and yet managed to be surprised by the absurdity of the square […]

When you cover a beat, you get to know the good guys and the bad guys. If you don’t have strong opinions about who’s who, you’re probably not doing your […]

The “Prisoner’s Dilemma” is one of game theory’s oldest, most influential and most poetic ideas. As in life, a player’s best strategy depends on the kind of game she’s in […]

Jakub Grygiel gives eleven reasons why the study of classical history, and writers like Herodotus and Thucydides, are still vital to a modern education.

How can scientists be religious? How has religion evolved, according to science? In a special series this week, Big Think rounds up a learned cast of thought leaders—from a computer […]

Brace yourself for some depressing climate change news. Even if we cut rncarbon emissions dramatically, we won’t really see the impact by the rnyear 2050, says Bjørn Lomborg,rn Director of the Copenhagen Consensus Center. So if the outlook is so rnbleak, what should we do in the meantime? Where should we direct our rnenergies? Lomborg has some ideas.

As part of their conversation series with scientists, the NY Times this week runs an interview with Harvard’s Eric Mazur featuring the headline “Using the ‘Beauties of Physics’ to Conquer […]

This Monday marked the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma city bombing, an attack which killed 168 people and injured 680 more. As we know now (and as we were reminded […]

Human beings give their attention readily to people who already have it. It doesn’t matter if a guy won fame for his action movies, people will listen to his advice […]

“How could you conceivably cut yourself off from other men and from the life they bring you in such abundance? In the name of what uncaring, ivory-tower kind of attitude?” […]

A Federal judge has ruled that there is no causal relationship between a mercury-containing agent used in vaccines and the occurrence of autism in those who have been vaccinated.

When you’re an infant, the brain makes three dots and a line into a face; later in life, it turns a creak and a shadow into a ghost. Adults too […]

We’re delighted to start our blog, Hybrid Reality, on Big Think. The blog is part of a multi-year research project examining human/technology co-evolution. We explore the implications of our complex […]

The US and UK can handle decades of debt, according to a Financial Times commentator who says that seeing debt as a serious problem is an “alarmist view.”

The National Enquirer has another piece of scandalous news for its clamouring public – it hopes to win a Pulitzer Prize for its revelations about the private life of John Edwards.

The search among urbanites for that ideal “authentic” neighborhood, rife with rustic brownstones, a diverse, culturally robust population, artisans, galleries, vendors, mom-and-pop shops, and familiar pubs pulsating with local music, […]

Speaking with Democrats yesterday, Obama sought to reassure his party of the White House’s support during the coming elections and renewed his commitment to healthcare reform.

A rapidly forming stereotype about autistic people is that they can’t use stereotypes. In the words of this site about kids with Asperger’s Syndrome, for instance, “they are usually free […]

When one studies the philosophical foundations of physics for a living, even the most trivial of everyday objects poses profound questions. For the Columbia University professor David Albert, who spent […]

Proposals to speed up adoption procedures for orphans of the Haitian earthquake are raising ethical dilemmas about the value of psychological safety versus the reality of food and water shortages.

One of the major obstacles to passing the health care reform bill has been a group of anti-abortion representatives led by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI). Stupak’s group say they would […]

The historical commission of California voted to protect space-trash that Apollo 11 left behind on the moon as a State treasure since it was produced by Californian companies.

The philosopher of physics explains the “unsettling” manner in which movement, at its most essential level, breaks down cognitive categories and exhausts the capacities of human logic.

Untreated chronic pain is not only an epidemic, it’s a crime. According to a groundbreaking new report by Human Rights Watch, the majority of the world’s population lacks adequate access […]

Rep. Bart Stupak is being coy. On Monday, the anti-choice Democrat told a town hall meeting that there was “no such thing as compromise” on abortion funding under health care […]