The polar ring galaxy may actually be two galaxies that are gravitationally pulled together. When this happens, an unusual ring of gas and stars rotate around the poles of what […]
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“It is surely harmful to souls to make it a heresy to believe what is proved.” -Galileo
Every two years the American contemporary art world converges on The Whitney Museum in New York City. And biennially the Whitney Biennial inspires the whole gamut of critical reactions from […]
We’ve covered the potential for mind-reading before here on Big Think. The technology sounds exciting, but it also brings up terrifying ethical issues. To quote Neil deGrasse Tyson, “we’re moving […]
If there was ever any dispute that Carl Sagan wasn’t “only” an astronomer, astrophysicist, and cosmologist but a poet, this video solves it. Sagan receives the “auto-tunes” treatment in this […]
The Internet turned 25 yesterday. Business Insider celebrated by publishing this chart today showing how the world wide web has grown since its “modest” start.The web began all thanks to […]
As technology evolves, so do the sounds that we associate with our favorite gadgets. It’s difficult to recall the ring of one’s first cell phone. But some of these noises–like […]
This March 14th, stump your friends with these amazing facts about the world’s favorite transcendental number! “So here we have π squared, which an engineer would call ‘10.’” –Frank King […]
Hamilton Nolan, a Gawker writer I greatly respect but who I’ve disagreed with before, has a new post up regarding using Tweets publicly. I here want to respond to one […]
Around 25 million light-years from the constellation Canes Venatici in the northern sky, the Sunflower Galaxy clearly deserves its nickname. The flower-looking bright spiral galaxy is nearly 100,000 light-years across, […]
“Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.” – Albert Einstein
Living a creative life takes creativity nurturing and intuitive awareness boosting. By having the right external environment and internal tools for flourishing creativity, you not only notice differences in creative […]
Every element found on Earth was made in either the Big Bang or the cores of stars… except these three. “We cannot conceive of matter being formed of nothing, since things […]
Alan Lightman on whether our universe may be an accident.
On the 60th anniversary of its publication, Lord of the Flies continues to be a valuable literary and cultural reference point and, more surprisingly, an instructive manual about contemporary political life—and its liabilities.
Our world is undergoing a crisis in education. Around 67 million children do not have access to primary school, and around 72 million lack a secondary school education. These disturbing […]
NASA released this image of Mars up close. Even if you don’t have your 3D glasses handy, it’s still an amazing shot of Mount Sharp on the horizon as well […]
“For me, I am driven by two main philosophies: know more today about the world than I knew yesterday and lessen the suffering of others. You’d be surprised how far […]
The loudest and largest generation in history, the baby boomers, are older. Their numbers and needs will place unprecedented demands on aging services in a time of workforce shortages and […]
The Joseon Dynasty ruled over Korea for more than half a millennium, stretching from 1392, when horses were still the main means of travel, to 1910, the dawn of the […]
After extensive research and analysis by TIME, the results are in: the citizens who post the most selfies live in Makati City, Philippines. From TIME: An examination of hundreds of […]
Due to the closing of America’s space shuttle program, the US now has to pay Russia to take American astronauts into Space. So the conflict between Russia and Ukraine is […]
And — if you aren’t — why you should be watching. “The brain is like a muscle. When it is in use we feel very good. Understanding is joyous.” –Carl Sagan I’ve already told […]
Joel Turner was only 19 when three men broke into his house and stabbed him to death. His mother, Janet Connors, had already spent four decades as a social activist […]
Animals behind cages, starving and dying, is an awful sight. It’s an image that underlines the callousness with which humans treat other creatures and indeed themselves. The philosopher, Immanuel Kant, […]
This photograph of the dazzling heart of the Rosette Nebula resembles “the heavens” in a painting from the age of romanticism. The bright cluster of stars–the NGC 2244–formed a few […]
“We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology.” – Carl Sagan
One of the only members of the Virgo Cluster… that isn’t located in Virgo! “[L]ife is a luminous halo, a semi-transparent envelope surrounding us from the beginning of consciousness to the […]
On Sunday, 60 Minutes featured a fascinating segment on ALMA, a $13 billion radio telescope in the Antofagasta Region of Chile that allows scientists to study the origins of our […]
Mental health isn’t a popular topic in America–a country that invented “the Hollywood ending.” In our bigger, faster, stronger culture, admitting that you have the mental-equivalent of a broken arm […]