Amid widely-publicized corporate scandals, global environmental threats, and powerful advances in biotechnology, says ethicist Paul Root Wolpe, big companies find themselves tromping through an ethical minefield, and desperately in need of guidance.
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Using super cloud computing, IBM has created a public database of chemical compounds extracted from 4.7 million patents and donated it to the National Institutes of Health.
“Retention, even in difficult times,” says Rich Lesser of Boston Consulting Group, “becomes a bellwether for employees about whether they should invest back in you, and so your priority is . . . to know the things that are most important to your future success, and invest starting with the people.'”
Albert Pujols is probably the best hitter in baseball. But is he worth $260 million? With a World Series title under his belt, but also coming off his worst professional […]
As the times go, so goes Van Gogh. Toiling in relative obscurity during his life, known by fellow painters but not by the public at large, Vincent Van Gogh’s greatest […]
When this life is all you have, you’re naturally motivated to care more about it. That’s why I’ve often encouraged readers to support the Foundation Beyond Belief, an excellent secular […]
The 2012 TED Prize has been awarded not to a person, but to an idea: The City 2.0. With half of the planet already living in urban centers, few issues could be important in the future.
We’ve enjoyed exponential increases in computing power that have driven down the price of consumer electronics. All that may be about to end unless an alternative to silicon can be found.
While efforts to harness the sea for electricity generation are still in their infancy, the promise of predictable, reliable and clean energy is encouraging increasing investment around the globe.
“Daddy, who was Alec Baldwin?” my future daughter may ask me one day. “He was a terrific actor,” I will reply. “In fact, let’s watch one of my favorite episodes […]
Never before has keeping the right people and finding them been as high on the agendas of great companies as it is today.
If managed intelligently, efforts like Mark Tercek’s with the Nature Conservancy may succeed in funding ambitious environmental projects that would otherwise remain on the drafting table, and transforming the way industry understands its relationship with the Earth.
Innovation – everyone says they want it, but when it’s time to personally embrace it and change what they do everyday there is often reluctance, if not outright resistance. In […]
Scientists have discovered two supermassive black holes each with a mass equivalent to 10 billion Suns. They are eating up everything across a space five times bigger than our solar system.
The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence is again combing space for radio signals broadcast by other intelligent life. To overcome its budget problems, it will share telescopes with the Air Force.
Welcome to What Not to Think About. On this blog, Big Think’s editors will pick the stories that are making headlines elsewhere but which we encourage you to ignore. Why? […]
A couple days ago I posted a piece, The Climate Change Winds May Be Shifting, about how the evidence linking climate change and extreme weather events is getting stronger, […]
The shuttle program having been terminated and a budget crunch looming, the national space program lacks a clear purpose. One astronomer says NASA should focus on saving the planet.
I don’t think so! In the last one hundred years Germany has made two attempts to own, control and dominate Europe. Each has been repulsed. Can this third attempt succeed? […]
NASA has found a planet outside our solar system which could sustain life. But does it? As research continues, a deluge of new exoplanets may be discovered thanks to miniature satellites.
Many companies extol the value of work-life balance for their employees, but the reality for senior executives? There isn’t any.
A growing number of people are making their own fuel using cooking oil which restaurants, for now, are happy to give away. Is this a sustainable plan or just a crowd of eccentrics?
Today marks my last blog for Artful Choice. It has been an exciting year of writing about decisions small and big and the forces that help shape them and make […]
The yearly U.N. climate conference currently hosted by Durban, South Africa, is seeing yet another disappointing result. As nations leave the Kyoto protocol, there is no new agreement.
Thanks to the serendipitous placing of NASA space satellites, scientists have confirmed that the tsunami which struck Japan in March was doubly powerful because of a rare phenomenon.
So I promised I would do a post based on what we can learn about courage from the philosopher of manliness Harvey Mansfield. But it turns out that there’s a […]
Author Blake Nelson’s new book Dream School comes out today from Figment.com, the company’s first book to be printed on physical paper. Figment.com was launched 1 year ago today, Dec. […]
What’s the Big Idea? Does Kepler-22b really exist? Is there life on this planet? Could we inhabit it? How would we get there? These are a few of the many […]
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s grip on power is more tenuous than ever following big losses in last Sunday’s parliamentary election. This is not surprising, since Putin does not actually have much […]
I’m not a big science fiction reader, but I admire how the genre has just enough of a toehold in reality that it feels plausibly weird. It stakes out the […]