April 17, 2023 Weekly Crossword: Expanding horizons Many of the clues are based on content that you can read on Big Think. Good luck!
Starts With A Bang JWST surpasses, enhances Hubble’s deepest image ever With infrared capabilities and image sharpness far beyond Hubble’s limits, JWST looked at Hubble’s deepest field, revealing so much more.
Hard Science Each of our bodies is proof of Einstein’s equation You are an energy field — but not the “chakras” or “auras” kind.
Neuropsych Our expectations can create fake short-term memories The content of our long-term memories is constantly “reconstructed” by our brains. The same is true of memories formed mere seconds ago.
Hard Science Drone discovers weird underwater volcano off California An un-crewed sailing drone discovered the unusually shaped, slumbering seamount.
The Present The story behind Turkey’s pricey, fairy tale ghost town Burj Al Babas may one day be full of wealthy vacationers, but for now it’s a ghost town in the center of Turkey.
Neuropsych Americans more than ever have no friends. Here are 5 steps to make more friends The lack of friendship is particularly a problem for men. But there are easy ways to make friends.
Neuropsych Entrainment: How synching lights with brainwaves can speed up learning Our brainwaves naturally synchronize with external stimuli like flickering lights. Here’s how the phenomenon might boost learning.
The Well Why has every postwar generation since the 1950s become less religious? Adolescents actively shape the transformation of religion and become the bearers of new religious patterns, worldviews, and values.
Hard Science The grand paradox at the heart of Stephen Hawking’s cosmology Though he renounced philosophy, Stephen Hawking’s final theory of the universe redraws the basic foundations of cosmology.
Starts With A Bang Ask Ethan: How do you cope with cosmic anxiety? The Universe is grand, awe-inspiring, and greater than we likely imagine. Even astrophysicists get anxious thinking about it, but we cope.
13.8 6 major cracks have appeared in the standard model of cosmology. Is it wrong? It may be time for a cosmological paradigm shift.
Sponsored How to overcome “oniomania” — compulsive spending disorder Treating “oniomania” or compulsive buying disorder is about protecting your finances as well as your mental health.
The Learning Curve Harvard negotiator explains how to argue There are three barriers we need to overcome to have better, more productive arguments.
The Past Why Carl Sagan thought ancient hunter-gatherers were scientists Science isn’t synonymous with technology; it’s about a way of thinking.
Starts With A Bang Measuring reality really does affect what you observe The double-slit experiment, hundreds of years after it was first performed, still holds the key mystery at the heart of quantum physics.
Thinking Scientists analyzed 24,000 chess matches to understand cognition Chess could perhaps be the ultimate window through which we might see how our mental powers shift during our lives.
13.8 Why some cosmologists found the Big Bang offensive For many years, some cosmologists embraced the idea of an eternal, steady state universe. But science triumphed over philosophical prejudice.
L&D strategy 5 experts weigh in on how to boost learner engagement There are several different types of learner engagement, from emotional to cognitive. Here’s how to improve each.
Smart Skills You’ve been lied to about how to detect lies. Here’s a simpler way that actually works When it comes to spotting a lie, less is more.
Thinking How to reclaim deep thinking: Ditch Google, trust yourself Delay the instant gratification of online knowledge and first seek out the wisdom within yourself.
Starts With A Bang Why atoms are the Universe’s greatest miracle With a massive, charged nucleus orbited by tiny electrons, atoms are such simple objects. Miraculously, they make up everything we know.
Hard Science How life survived “Snowball Earth” Frozen adversity set the stage for an explosion of diversity.
Neuropsych Collective pessimism and our inability to guess the happiness of others Do you think other people are happier than you?
The Present 5 reasons the president has little control over the economy Unmasking a “convenient untruth” in U.S. politics.
High Culture How French mathematicians birthed a strange form of literature Try writing a novel without using the letter “e.”
Strange Maps The coast-to-coast road trip is 120 years old In 1903, a Vermont doctor bet $50 that he could cross America by car. It took him 63 days, $8,000, and 600 gallons of gas.
Starts With A Bang Einstein’s most famous quote is totally misunderstood “Imagination is more important than knowledge” is often taken to mean that your conceptions outweigh what’s real. That’s not what he said.