What scientific concept would improve everybody’s cognitive toolkit? This question, posed by psychologist Steven Pinker, has garnered over 150 responses at Edge.org.
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They may be getting more graphic, says Harriet Walker, but sex scenes in the movies are no more true to life than they ever were—and no less uncomfortable to watch.
If the F.D.A. deems saccharin safe enough for coffee, then the E.P.A. should not treat it as hazardous waste, writes President Barack Obama at The Wall Street Journal.
Perhaps happiness is a bit like self-esteem: You have to work for both. You can’t get an infusion of either one from a therapist, says Dr. Richard Friedman.
MP3s aren’t free and Piracy is, as of this moment and for want of a better word, theft. Is there any other crime people are so completely and disarmingly blasé about committing?
So, in the wake of the boring–yet annoying–Golden Globes, I’ve been asked what movies of last year I’d recommend that the foreign correspondents slighted. Let me say, to begin with, […]
Despite the important role of the arts in enabling public expression, learning, and participation relative to science, there is an unfortunate tendency to think about the relationship in terms of […]
As presented by Life Magazine to its anxious readership in 1942.
There is not a single gene that triggers autism, but more likely dozens of genes that enhance the risk of autism. On the other hand, researchers have found that certain environmental variables, like air pollution, may also play a small role.
Since you’re reading it on the Internet—in a blog, no less—it just might be. This week Big Think sits down with journalist Nicholas Carr, author of the infamous 2008 Atlantic […]
So, I said that I was going to try to make MVP #31 a little harder than some of the last few Mystery Volcano Photos, and I was right. In […]
Researchers at Kyoto University claim they will be able to clone a baby mammoth from the DNA of a 10,000-year-old woolly mammoth. The time frame: 5 to 6 years.
If sex workers are effectively used to manipulate economic decision-makers then, just like other forms of corruption, this will lead to poor economic outcomes.
Look for the answer to MVP #31 later today, but for now, I have a brief update on Bulusan in the Philippines. We ended 2010 with the restive volcano producing […]
Sex educator Jessi Fischer on why and how we vilify male sexuality: “The falsehood that men are brutes who can’t control their sex drive is harmful to everyone.”
Sales of Glock semi-automatic guns are skyrocketing in the wake of Tucson. The growing piles of bodies is real evidence of growing extremist activity. What could be plainer or starker?
A study has found an unexpected sex difference in the effects of caffeine consumption on performance under stress. Men fared worse and women better.
Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator tells Spiegel about the dangers of waging cyber warfare against Iran’s nuclear facilities and the West’s false expectations for upcoming talks.
Multiculturalism critic Kenan Malik: The very thing that diversity is good for is the very thing that multiculturalism as a political process undermines.
Steve Jobs isn’t saying why he’s taking a medical leave. Slate asks: Is that fair to Apple investors?
Would we celebrate this tableau of human good nature so enthusiastically if we did not also fear, somewhere in our hearts, that we might have reacted differently?
George Monbiot asks: “Who threatens us most — peaceful campaigners or a private militia run by police chiefs?”
A border collie in South Carolina has the largest vocabulary of any known dog. She knows 1,022 nouns, a record that may help explain how children acquire language.
Could online galleries prove a successful sales innovation for a struggling art industry? The first virtual contemporary art fair is about to be launched.
I’ve yet to go to the cinema to watch ‘Kings Speech’, which is currently the talk of Hollywood. Those who have come back enthused, including some of those who are not […]
Staying Grounded Last week’s out-of-nowhere smash hit “Things Real People Don’t Say About Advertising” isn’t just a source of hilarity, it’s also a good reminder that we as marketers often […]
Every Wednesday, Michio Kaku will be answering reader questions about physics and futuristic science. Today, Dr. Kaku addresses a question posed by Tomas Aftalion: Will it be possible to transfer one’s memory into a synthetic medium in our lifetime?
BIG THINK displays a large number wonderful accounts of how science today is transforming our lives–appealing to our hopes, our pride, and, occasionally, our humility. I thought I’d share with […]
If Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were alive today, would he be counseling us on how to find happiness, or would he merely be setting an example of how to […]
Turkle rightly asserts that such familial association is what we will all come to have with machines, and that children are the only ones who understand it right from the start. Children recognize the powerful magnetism of robots that are programmed to respond to human affection (by purring, chatting, batting eye lashes and so forth). Some of them say that they would like to give a robot as a companion to their grandparents, but worry that the grandparents might prefer the robot to them in the long run.