“Scientists are peeping toms at the keyhole of eternity.” – Arthur Koestler
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Our opinion leaders and policy makers seem to have been genuinely surprised that Putin has invaded a part of Ukraine (mostly but not only Crimea) and will likely invade more. […]
Phrases that only came out of one man’s mouth because of his kids. “Experience is not what happens to you; it’s what you do with what happens to you.” –Aldous Huxley […]
“If I see a spider in my house, I put it in a cup, and then I take it outside. I save it. What is wrong with me?” –Jacqueline Emerson […]
“Those who fear the imagination condemn it: something childish, they say, something monsterish, misbegotten. Not all of us dream awake. But those of us who do have no choice.” – Patricia […]
“Man is certainly stark mad. He cannot make a worm, and yet he is willing to make gods by dozens.” — Michel de Montaigne
When you look in the mirror, what do you see? Answer: Junk DNA. Our friends at DNews explain in this video that your face is made up of the stuff. […]
Is this science fiction? Can you really charge your cell phone in the time it takes to check all those voice-mails? Supercapacitors let you bring your cell phone back to […]
Big Think interviewed producer and film scholar Jonathan Taplin to discuss the current state of Hollywood. As much as we get caught up in the glitz and glamour, it’s easy […]
So Professor Jacob Stoll defends the study of the humanities with the thought that all the great economic thinkers from Aristotle to Locke to Adam Smith to Karl Marx to […]
In the closing days of World War II, America recruited scores of German scientists that became the bulwark of our space effort. These scientists of course had shady pasts and […]
Alan Alda recently challenged scientists to explain this simple question to 11-year-olds in less than 300 words. Could you do it? “You can’t get there by bus, only by hard work […]
Are reason and emotion sworn enemies? Many expert reasoners feel they are. But these supposed opposites overlap, emotions have logic and reason often blunders. Plato’s chariot and the anti-Freud can […]
“Master of Modernism and Creator of His Own Song Style” read the posters for Jazz trumpeter and singer Louis Armstrong when he appeared in Memphis, Tennessee in late 1931 at […]
Your high school teachers had the best intentions, but they likely featured educational illustrations on the walls of their classrooms that weren’t telling you the whole truth. Our friends at […]
Did you know that your favorite dinosaur in kindergarten, the brontosaurus, never existed? This and 49 other misconceptions about science are pulled out of your head and replaced with facts […]
It’s one of the most beautiful (and terrifying) sights in the world. But what causes it? “If you are caught on a golf course during a storm and are afraid of […]
Which cologne or perfume makes big cats go absolutely wild? Researchers refuse to say, because they don’t want humans testing it out and encroaching on the natural habitat of wild […]
Heroin addiction continues to receive media attention following the death of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman. His tragic overdose introduced America to the fact that heroin addicts do not fit any […]
In this easy tutorial by popular science teacher Robert Krampf, you can see one of these colors that are not visible to the human eye.
Witnessing a double-rainbow in nature may seem like a mystical experience, according to the famous video shot in Yosemite where the cameraman yells out in bliss: “What does this mean!” […]
Over 3,000 different ethnic groups eat 1,400 different species of insects. Not eating insects? Check out what you are missing from this insect buffet filmed by the Smithsonian. The National […]
The tiny pistol shrimp should be a character in the video game Street Fighter. When it goes hunting for prey, it shoots water that’s as hot as the surface of […]
You knew the movie was hilarious, but did you also know that Caddyshack essentially features science in its pivotal plot points? Those explosions meant to rid the course of that […]
Though we are still trapped by the grueling clutches of winter, we can still dream that summer is around the corner. And with the eventual start of a new season […]
Is it a music video or a catchy way to remember the elements? BoingBoing produced this fun animation featuring They Might Be Giants singing (and teaching us) about science. Why […]
The Dalai Lama is a busy man traveling the world meeting with world leaders and members of the Tibetan diaspora. Now you can keep up with his journeys by following […]
More potential evidence that we may not be alone in the universe. Kepler telescope discovered 715 new planets beyond our solar system. So far, NASA has identified four of these […]
When two masters come together like the great filmmaker Errol Morris shooting a documentary about Stephen Hawking, one would expect the film to be on everyone’s list of favorites. But […]
The BBC tried to organize a seismic event by having 50,000 people in one place jump at the same time. A kilometer away it registered as a .6 on the […]