In our material, measurable world, infinity is never a real, physical quantity; it is only an abstraction.
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A new study warns that the rock that landed near Chelyabinsk in February may be part of a larger group of asteroid remnants, all with orbits that could potentially lead them to Earth.
The government announced the closing of the country’s two public zoos in July, with many of their residents moving to private centers. However, a separate law passed in December means those centers don’t have a lot of vacancies.
An Australian man’s newly-launched campaign is the latest effort to address the phenomenon of people paying more attention to their phone than to other people around them.
Lee Smolin posits the idea that new universes are born from parent universes through the mechanism of black holes.
Responding to U.S. strikes and personnel evacuations in Yemen, Big Think Waq al-Waq blogger Gregory Johnsen asks a simple question: why?
Galileo must have developed “a new theory of optics as revolutionary as the device itself.” This theory he kept secret.
As of today (Aug. 6), the site’s Art Store offers over 40,000 works of original and limited-edition art from more than 150 galleries and dealers. Prices range from hundreds of dollars to millions of dollars.
If the Nobel committee has the guts, it has been argued, it could deliver “a smackdown to the security state.”
The NOAA visualization below depicts a giant plume of dust moving off the coast of Africa.
Or, more specifically, stomach complaints: nEmesis monitors diners’ Twitter accounts for certain words that might indicate a potential food poisoning issue. Tests showed its findings closely matched those of health inspectors.
Curiosity’s landing on Mars – a marvel of 21st century engineering – was in and of itself probably the rover’s greatest feat to date.
Everyone should be aware that a multitude of men are either chemically or surgically castrated for a variety of reasons in contemporary Western society.
Thomas Jefferson is known as the author of the Declaration of Independence, and the articulator of the separation of church and state. These high profile accomplishments tend to overshadow his […]
A team from Tokyo’s University of Electro-Communications has created a system that creates an interactive surface from a tub of opaque water, basically “[taking] immersive entertainment to a whole new level.”
A Finnish team made crowdsourcing a literal public affair by setting up large touchscreens in busy areas and watching passersby as they performed basic research tasks with them. The results were on par with those of paid online volunteers.
It’s the most natural thing in the world – for an American parent especially – to praise a child for her intelligence or talent, rather than for how hard she […]
As a marine biologist points out, upwards of 70% of Discoveries viewers fell for the ruse and now believe that Megalodon isn’t extinct.
The first lab-made burger has been dubbed by some the Frankenburger. It has also been dubbed the ‘Googleburger,’ since Sergey Brin, a co-founder of Google, funded the $330,000 experiment as a potentially transformative project for the benefit of humanity.
As subscribers to Big Think’s YouTube channel know, we are proud participants this week in the first ever YouTube Geek Week, which is showcasing new videos, creative collaborations and all things geek through August 10.
Five guidelines for navigating the Internet from the great 19th-century liberal individualist.
Leo Tolstoy was a great Russian novelist and essayist and philosopher and crazy person, as well as an idea entrepreneur in his own way.
The more complex challenge you have, the more relationship matters, the depth of the relationship between the teachers and student.
With global population still on the march, and developing economies like India and China brining potentially billions more drivers onto the roads, demand for oil as a source of energy may actually decline in the years ahead.
Despite recent failures in Egypt and Turkey, two of the world’s three most populous countries of Islam’s core, political parties wishing to legislate Islamic value may still stand a chance.
Faced with a modernizing society and subsequent falling birthrate, the South Korean government is taking unusual steps to encourage its younger citizens to link up, get married, and have children.
This time-lapse video, recorded by the Messenger spacecraft en route to Mercury, shows what it looks like to say goodbye to planet Earth.
While the US has steadily worked to build coalitions of the willing, China’s allies often depend on aligning economic interest which can change direction with the wind.
To encourage higher birthrates and allow parents to leave the house in search of work, Germany has promised that all families will have ready access to daycare services.
While it seems plausible that one or both of Christie and Paul will run for president in 2016, their prospects for success are less significant than the philosophy each man represents.