Part One of Two I often receive e-mails from my fans who state that my ability to popularize science and technology is reminiscent of the late Carl Sagan; This got […]
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Today we introduce our newest blog, Dollars and Sex, written by Marina Adshade, an economics professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. There she teaches a popular undergraduate course […]
Interior design star Thom Filicia just stopped by the Big Think offices to tell us a thing or two about good taste and what it takes to be a tastemaker. […]
While the large banks have survived in one form or another, a spate of small- and medium-size banks are closing across the country at a rate of four to six […]
Making America fall in love with Don Draper is dangerous, because we will want to be him, or be with him, and both of these will bring moral compromise.
Good communication is a matter of getting “in sync” with others, as you’ve probably noticed when you’ve seen people match their steps perfectly as they walk, and imitate each other’s […]
How much is being American worth to you? Or British, Japanese, or German? The value of one’s nationality is largely intangible, but Nobel laureate Gary Becker tells Big Think that […]
While many minorities in our society face discrimination, being gay is a little different, according to GLAAD President Jarret Barrios. “You don’t wear that on your sleeve,” says Barrios. “It’s […]
PepsiCo Social Media director Bonin Bough thinks that CEOs who are comfortable on Twitter and Facebook can really help their companies out. “You look at a guy like Tony [Hsieh] […]
Economists find dating websites extremely useful, not to find the love of their lives because they provide an opportunity to observe a fascinating market in action: the market for marriage.
While psychologists have preferred the term ‘blended family’ to ‘broken home’, true blending rarely occurs in second-marriages. Fracture at home is becoming a tolerable reality of modern families.
China takes in 30% of the worldwide pornography revenue, and prostitution income makes up 8% of its massive GDP.
In a recent interview in the New York Times Magazine, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner said that he was very proud that he had paved the way for middle-class couples to […]
Marriage rates for educated women are falling in cities because there aren’t enough available men.
“Making nice doesn’t work. It was worth a try, but it didn’t work. So we’d better try something else.” A Methodist Sunday school teacher proposes standing up to inaction over climate change.
Critics who say WikiLeaks has blood on its hands over the release of Afghan war logs are hypocritical because they ignore the actors who more directly split Afghan and coalition blood.
While nearly every social movement claims Enlightenment ideas—freedom, democracy and science—as their own, this very claim to authority cuts against the revolutionary English moment.
By measuring a subject’s brain waves, researchers at Northwestern University can detect the presence of “concealed information”. The technique could be used to uncover terrorist plots.
Einstein once declared that he had no special talents, only he was passionately curious. What makes us want to know about things we don’t understand? The urge may be primal, scientists say.
A series of online tests known as Implicit Association Tests measure subconscious bias in areas of race, gender, age, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation. Follow the link to try.
Ahead of what is expected to be a boom in e-book sales, Amazon and Apple are accused of colluding to fix the price of electronic books depriving the market of competition.
As the science conference at Google HQ wraps up, the New Scientist reflects on some big ideas—from jet packs to the nature of time and gravity—presented in humble surroundings.
Elizabeth Wurtzel says cynics should embrace the Ground Zero Mosque as a bargaining chip: evidence of America’s tolerance to be held up as proof positive of our goodwill.
In countries that regulate prostitution, more sex trade workers end up on the street and disease rates rise.
To combat drunkenness, Halifax raised drink prices at bars. Will this also reduce unsafe sex and STI’s?
“If I wanted to sponsor a bill,” Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) asked, “and it said, ‘Americans, you have to eat three vegetables and three fruits every day,’ and I got […]
How do you persuade people to eat less and exercise more? We love to think it’s a matter of getting them to see facts and make good decisions, because that […]
When children are born with severe, debilitating conditions like some forms of spina bifida—in which some vertebrae on top of the spinal cord remain unfused and open—their lives can often […]
Traffic perhaps the greatest environmental liability and biggest daily annoyance of urban epicenters. Between the number of cars in the streets, the tendency of ground-level public transportation vehicles to jam […]
It’s a sad day for bigots in New York City. Opponents of a planned Islamic cultural center and mosque at 47 Park Place failed in their last-ditch effort to usurp […]