Around 6,400 light-years away, in the constellation of Orion, is this sparkling skyscape captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. On the edge of NGC 2174, this image shows a corner […]
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“Creative activity could be described as a type of learning process where teacher and pupil are located in the same individual.” — Arthur Koestler
On July 4, 2012 a team of physicists in Switzerland announced one of the biggest discoveries in science: the Higgs boson–the “God particle” that could explain why all matter has […]
Inflation tells us that it’s likely real, but can it be the answer to any of our scientific questions? Probably not. “Physical reality does not require that we be pleased with […]
I begin my column with a five-part interview series with Bob Tewksbury, the newdirector of player development for the Major League Baseball Players Association. He helps players deal with the […]
Haitian-American singer Jason Derulo’s tweet on Jan 15 displayed youthful exuberance. The 24-year-old included six exclamation marks when declaring his single ‘Talk Dirty’ had reached #9 on the iTunes singles […]
Imagine if I were to ask you to donate blood tomorrow. Now imagine that I were to offer you $7 to do the very same thing. Would this incentive make […]
Warning: Robots are becoming smarter. They can now teach each other how to play Pac-Man. Researchers in Washington State University’s School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science have developed a […]
The goal of this blog is to help raise awareness of what I call The Risk Perception Gap the danger that arises when we worry about some things more […]
Stargazers have something to look forward to. Over the next few months, a pair of colorful bright objects will be visible close together–Mars and Spica. Next week in particular, Mars […]
“If you cannot find peace within yourself, you will never find it anywhere else.” – Marvin Gaye
If the eyes are the windows of the soul, can the windows of an artist’s studio—the vistas they viewed daily for inspiration—offer a glimpse into their soul? In anticipation of […]
MaryChapinCarpenter has won five Grammys, but she still can’t give you a formula for how to write a song. “You know if I had a way to easily describe the writing […]
As we approach our national day of mourning, the April 15th tax filing deadline, Americans once again are witness to an apparently spontaneous breakout of Kabuki theatre in our capital. […]
Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget proposal is like offering to buy somebody’s house for a nickel and snarl.
“Seeing is not believing,” is how Neil deGrasse Tyson opened last Sunday’s episode of “Cosmos.” If you’ve been following the “creationism” debate, which we’ve covered here on Big Think, then […]
Happy April Fool’s Day! We here at Big Think celebrated by releasing this exclusive footage of Dr. Michio Kaku contemplating the universe. Google, which always seems to enjoy being festive, […]
We all feel bad for Pluto, but it had its demotion coming. “I have announced this star as a comet, but since it is not accompanied by any nebulosity and, further, […]
Dear Mr. or Mrs. Baby Boomer Executive, I hope you are sitting down. I have some startling news to share with you: your millennial initiatives are worthless. The tools and […]
Stephen’s Quintet is the name of the first identified compact galaxy group. This remarkable image of it was captured with data from the Hubble Legacy Archive and the Subaru Telescope […]
“Let the future tell the truth, and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments. The present is theirs; the future, for which I have really worked, is mine.” […]
Good news for mice! Bad news for cobras. Researchers have engineered the strongest constructed muscle yet–ten times stronger than all previous attempts, and successfully implanted it into mice. It’s so […]
AMC just released a trailer for its Silicon Valley drama series “Halt and Catch Fire.” There’s just something about geeks and hackers yelling at each other as though they’re in […]
Working at Big Think, we’re often asked, what’s it like to interview Dr. Michio Kaku? The Big Think expert and author of The Future of the Mind is a rock […]
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 […]
America has been undergoing a marijuana revolution of sorts. Marijuana is legal for medical use in 20 states and the District of Columbia, and now it’s sold in Colorado and […]
Einstein’s quantum description of light earned him a Nobel prize, but he’s mostly remembered for relativity. At their core, special and general relativity are, in fact, not relative. Explore Einstein’s […]
All maps tell lies, but this one does it better than most.
“Education must be the only sector that hasn’t already been completely revolutionized by technology,” says Wendy Kopp, the CEO and co-founder of Teach For All, and the founder and chair […]
Around 220 million light years away, the spiral galaxy ESO 137-001 speeds through the galaxy cluster Abell 3627. Hubble captured an image of the distant galaxy. As ESO 137-001 travels, its gas […]