It’s hard to absorb and write about stories that break your heart. When I saw the headline about Rehtaeh Parsons, who was gang-raped when she was 15 and committed suicide […]
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One of the best things I read this week was a piece by Vaughan Bell in the Guardian entitled, “Our Brains, and How They’re Not as Simple as We Think.” […]
Experiencing the “overview effect” appears to be transformational. Studies show that feelings of awe make subjects more patient, less materialistic, and more willing to volunteer to help others.
This month, Wrangler’s “revolutionary” line of jeans infused with skin-soothing extracts will be available on the online shopping site ASOS. (Sorry guys, this one’s just for the ladies. For now.)
Good morning, everyone! It’s a fresh new year, and the winds of change are blowing once again. This is my last post on Big Think. Effective immediately, Daylight Atheism is […]
What’s the most perfect, ideal, pure act of sexual consent that you can imagine? Maybe it would be you and your most favorite lover, ever, in a hotel room for […]
Over at Edge.org, its impresario John Brockman poses an annual question to his assemblage of scientists, scholars, writers and other insightful people. This year’s (suggested by George Dyson), was this: […]
This year’s Kumbh Mela, a Hindu festival, is expected to draw between 30 and 60 million pilgrims to the Indian city of Allahabad. Teams from disparate Harvard schools will be there to take data.
One important purpose of literature has always been to allow us to safely test our moral fibres against the grain of hardened anathemas: killing, adultery, incest, pornography, theft, anarchy have […]
Enter a rapidly changing world where a passionate scientist by the name of Isaac Newton burns political bridges in London, a royal astronomer, Edmond Halley, seeks a powerful formula from […]
The origin of Valentine’s Day has nothing to do with love and everything to do with “torturous martyrdom.” On second thought, perhaps the origin of Valentine’s Day has a great deal to do with love.
Government health bodies and family doctors currently treat genetic testing companies with skepticism, but giving patients access to their genetic data is perhaps the best way to improve treatment.
Two months before a plagiarism scandal rocked his career, popular science writer Jonah Lehrer discusses failure as a learning opportunity.
Can the study of art history stop looking like ancient history itself? Can it transcend the old approaches and embrace the digital world? As digitized as art history has become […]
Science fiction writer William Gibson famously stated on NPR’s Fresh Air back in 1993, “The future is already here, it’s just not very evenly distributed.” It’s a quote that in […]
To condemn the riots that rocked Belfast last Friday as “shameful”, as the British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Theresa Villiers has done, fails to address the two conflicting […]
Science writer Carl Zimmer is optimistic about current research into a vaccine that protects against all viruses. Although results are still years away, scientists are looking for characteristics that all viruses share.
Ramez Naam looks at the power of innovation to overcome natural resource and environmental challenges.
Last night was one of the most exciting Academy Awards ceremonies. Some of the excitement came from the incredible performances—Dame Shirley Bassey singing “Gold Finger,” Barbra Streisand popping up with […]
There are many things we can criticise the US for, but freedom of speech is not (at present) one of them. The US not only have the valuable First Amendment rights […]
As recently as a decade ago, a common middle-class American interpretation of a father in a heterosexual couple was “Mom’s assistant,” as Louis C.K. called it. Parenting was a job […]
It might not be pleasant to hear but there’s little reason to disagree with Sir David Attenborough’s pronouncement that “we are a plague on the Earth”. Of course, in terms […]
The US Army is requesting proposals for development of coatings and other substances that will absorb 99 percent of all light.
When writer Carolyn Briggs insisted that her children observe a more traditional Christmas, she was left isolated at a time of togetherness. This year, she will value her presence more highly.
I think a little perspective is order. The incendiary advice of Susan Patton ‘77, a Princeton alumna, that Princeton women find husbands while at college and marry early, has crashed […]
What hasn’t been said about Louis C.K.? The New York Times called him a “comedic Quentin Tarantino.” Writing for the Los Angeles Book Review Adam Wilson said he was “television’s […]
One of the more ubiquitous statements that has emerged over the last decade, ‘Spiritual, Not Religious’ is a self-affirming antidote to the traditional trappings of religion, the archaic and inflexible […]
“Having strong opinions is part of the joy of being alive, and loving people in spite of those strong opinions is one of the other joys of being alive.”
If errors are inevitable in the pursuit of anything worthwhile, then our most important decisions are inevitably made in their aftermath.
There is a lot of fear, uncertainty and doubt in today’s world. North Korea might hit us with nukes. The stock market might crash at any moment. The U.S. government […]