Here’s a distinguished political scientist—Jacqueline Stevens—who agrees with me that the NSF ought to cut the funding for political science. The Republicans in Congress think that these “scientists” are covertly […]
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There are many ways to look at Europe other than as a collection of nation-states. Plenty of other imagined communities lurk beneath the surface of the standard political map. Check […]
Once upon a time, we were taught that people are basically rational—at least when they have to be, at the stock market, the voting booth, the courtroom, the hospital, the […]
Larry Arnhart, the leading Darwinian conservative, wonders whether I’ve converted to his faith, doubtless due to his efforts at sharing the good, evolutionary news. Larry is, of course, not an […]
How would you describe the Republican candidates? A Washington Post/Pew Research poll conducted two weeks ago asked respondents what one word came to mind when they heard the name of […]
Noah Millman intervenes sensibly in the great Douthat–Sanchez debate about morality and religion: Okay, so humanists don’t have strong reasons for their faith in human rights. Do Christians have strong […]
Do you and your partner have “couple friends”–other couples that you socialize with as a couple? Have you thought about their role in your marriage? University of Maryland professor Geoffrey […]
“My guess is that the Y chromosome of every living man has spent at least one generation in the testis of a warlord,” the Oxford geneticist Bryan Sykes once told […]
The very technology that keeps us constantly connected to work can also create a new understanding of labor in the modern age. The no-hour work week means using technology humanely.
A childfree friend of mine once memorably wondered why moms are so “judge-y” toward each other. I’m loath to reinforce the rhetorical overkill of calling this judge-y state the “mommy […]
Rosalind Franklin was instrumental to the discovery of DNA, but as the film photograph 51 demonstrates, hers was a life out of balance.
If you asked me how being a single parent has affected my economic prospects I would have to say for the worse…and for the best. You see, while parenting young […]
Government—by making loans too easy to get and too cheap—encourages young people who mean well and don’t know better to borrow huge amounts of money to pay the outrageous tuitions and associated college costs.
With bookstores vanishing, the Pulitzer committee skimping on Pulitzers, and the Amazon dragon twining its bright yellow coils around every publisher on Earth, the book industry finds itself in dire peril. But lo! What […]
On the one day that we think the most about mothers, grandmothers, godmothers, and all other motherly types, it seems appropriate to ask what is the greatest Mother’s Day portrait […]
I’ve often written (although never on Big Think, until today) about Kiva, a nonprofit organization that connects charitable donors with microfinance institutions that cater to entrepreneurs in the developing world. […]
In this Q&A with Dr. Meg Jay, the clinical psychologist explains why the twenties matter, and how to make the most of them.
What’s the Big Idea? In the 21st century, the intelligence of people will determine the future. Our free society can be the magnet for some of the world’s brightest minds if […]
It’s Sunday morning, and I’m writing this on the train from Washington, D.C. back to New York. I’m exhausted, washed out, and my calves are two knots of pain from […]
Albert Einstein, the most famous scientist of all time, was born on this day in 1879 in the village of Ulm, located in the southwestern corner of the German Empire. Einstein […]
What’s the Big Idea? Some genius at marketing giant BBH decided to outfit 13 volunteer homeless people in Austin, Texas with 4G Wi-Fi transmitters, turning them into human Wi-Fi hotspots […]
“Indeed terror is in all cases whatsoever, either more openly or latently, the ruling principle of the sublime,” Edmund Burke wrote in 1757 in his A Philosophical Inquiry Into the […]
A new mobile service uses location data, i.e. where you are, to create a social network with like-minded people in your immediate vicinity. Would you be willing to meet a stranger this way?
The Institution for Economic Affairs, a free-market British think-tank, has released a freely-downloadable edited volume titled … and the Pursuit of Happiness, packed with papers summarizing the public-policy implications of […]
Despite today’s focus on genetics, the longest-ever survey of human health and happiness suggests that making the right choices in midlife is the most important determiner of all.
University of Pennsylvania economist Justin Wolfers, whose work with Betsey Stevenson I cited in my recent post on why economic growth is a moral imperative, sat down recently to talk […]
There are approximately 105,000 people currently on the waiting list for solid organ transplant in the United States. 18 of those people die every day. These deaths are due entirely to […]
During my last trip to San Francisco, I reported on my discovery of a woman who receives messages from God in his actual handwriting. I’m amused to report that I’ve […]
The question of my last post: Why do we deny that it’s our nature to die? The answer from many of my threaders: We aren’t merely or even essentially natural […]
Here’s an article by Thomas C. Terry getting a lot of attention on how openly our professors disparage Mormons in ways they would be ashamed to talk about members of […]