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The newest essays, interviews, and features from Big Think.
In a lightless canyon at the bottom of the Indian Ocean, Earth has been quietly collecting dead whales. Scientists have just discovered the archive.
Once you cross over to the inside of an event horizon, you can never come out again. But then, how do black holes emit all sorts of things?
1hr 13mins
Members
Tim Spector breaks down the science of how gut microbes produce the chemicals that shape your mood, your immune system, and your cognitive health.
Introducing Big Think’s first-ever poster — a stunningly detailed infographic of the universe from its earliest moments to the present day.
This 11-point scale aims to reduce the number of "false alarm" sightings so scientists can focus on harder-to-explain reports.
Nature evolved swarm intelligence in species like bees and fish. New AI-powered communication systems could help humans devise their own “collective superintelligence.”
Our brains give us a usable version of the world, not a complete one. A neuroscience and a physicist show why that gap matters for bias, free will, and the responsibility we carry into whatever happens next.
Unlikely Collaborators
Oort cloud object Bernardinelli–Bernstein has the largest known cometary nucleus: 119 km wide. An impact with Earth would be catastrophic.
The family might be a terrible way to raise kids. But it's the best we have.
In his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Angel Down, Daniel Kraus uses a single unbroken sentence to convey the psychological toll of being a soldier in World War I.
The Universe took a great many steps to create not just life, but intelligent life, here at home. What can we say about life beyond Earth?
The road to emancipation began when enslaved Americans seized an opportunity for freedom and forced the nation to reckon with slavery's role in the Civil War.
7mins
Transformative experiences don’t just change your perspective or lifestyle, they change the kind of person you are. Yale philosopher L.A. Paul explains.
The anthropic principle has fascinating scientific uses, where the simple fact of our existence holds deep physical lessons. Don't abuse it!
Vast arrays of planets, stars, black holes, galaxies, and more populate our Universe. Within each category, differences can be astounding.
Contracting gas clouds don't just make a single star, but a spectrum, with all different masses. Early on, that spectrum differed. But why?
Neuroscientist Anil Seth on the deep differences between human minds and artificial ones.
57mins
Body language expert Vanessa Van Edwards shares her formula to create a lasting first impression.
Protons and neutrons are composite structures: made of quarks and gluons. But knowing they had substructure goes back long before that.
1hr 27mins
Members
Charles Duhigg explains why trying to eliminate a bad habit is neurologically futile and why the habit that scares you most irrationally is probably the one change that rewires everything else.