Where do new ideas come from? One tactic is to train your brain to innovate through the use of thought experiments.
All Articles
Retirement looks a lot like work today. Studies, surveys and individual behaviors indicate that the next wave of retirees will be reporting for work longer than they or their employers […]
For the reader, art connoisseur, music fan, or student, this is a “money for nothing and your chicks for free” kind of world (Google the lyrics if you’re too young […]
Scientists put an interactive robot in an enclosure inhabited by 16 chimpanzees. Their reactions were surprisingly similar to those of humans, opening up potential new ways to observe them without humans being present.
“It never hurts to dream impossible dreams,” Booker told Big Think, as “you never know they might come true.” So if he could have one superpower it would be “control over time,” Booker said. “Because that’s really my only enemy.
This past summer the British government indicated it would be moving forward to finally grant a pardon for Alan Turing, but not for the 49,000 other gay men, including Oscar Wilde, who were convicted under the 1885 Criminal Law Amendment Act.
A three-year project conducted by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds found that only one in five kids had a “realistic and achievable” connection with nature. Unsurprisingly, adults’ attitudes may be to blame.
A report suggests that by 2030, nearly 325 million people could be living in the countries expected to be the most affected by natural hazards. In response, focus should be placed on disaster prevention, not just disaster relief.
A network of probes that communicate with each other using the power of the stars isn’t within the reach of current technology, but it could be someday, according to a new paper.
University of Tokyo researcher Huai-Chien Chang says that a missile outfitted with supplies and programmed to land softly could provide help within an hour.
How do you lift a poem out of history and “into your own history”?
A well-known example of irrational decision-making people’s tendency to overvalue the things they own (I would pay $1 for a coffee mug but will demand $5 for an identical coffee […]
The Spanish word berrinches means “tantrum,” but it also refers to “spoiled little rich kids, blind to their privilege and the effects of their misbehavior.”
Guest post by Kevin Flora In a recent podcast, the discussion was focused around inventions. The question was asked, “have all of the good inventions already been invented?” The answer […]
Law texts that include online citations are less effective if the Web sites they link to no longer exist. That’s why over 20 law schools are getting together to create Perma CC, a site that will preserve those links forever.
Two Newcastle University researchers have developed a canine version of a device that tracks its wearer’s behaviors. They theorize that changes in those behaviors could indicate a problem at home with the dog’s owner.
A new startup, Flirtey, plans to roll out its service next year, which they say will represent “the first use of fully automated commercial zones for package delivery in the world.”
Where is the Collaborative Economy heading and what value will it bring to business, brands and customers of the future?
The government has announced a plan to force cable companies to unbundle their services so that customers can pick and choose their channels. Could this happen in the US? It’s unlikely.
Researcher Saif Mohammad’s data mining tool analyzes emails for eight different emotions, including joy, trust, and anger. Next up: A Gmail app that could help improve online communication.
That respect that people had for each other’s office, Chris Matthews says, is completely missing today. It doesn’t have to be that way.
If you take a species and you put it in a new environment, its characteristics change. And that’s what we’re doing with capitalists. Capitalists are finding the place that they most need to go is no longer Boston, but Bangladesh.
Don’t worry. Be happy. Live in the present. The philosopher Rousseau said that was the natural condition of man, before he was screwed up by self-consciousness, time, awareness of death, […]
Everybody knows how to stay inside their silo. It takes the courageous soul to cross those boundaries.
Why are people sometimes more emboldened in their beliefs after being exposed to corrective information?
Kas Thomas: The evidence is substantial enough that people should start thinking about taking substantial amounts of vitamin D as prophylaxis against cancers of all kinds.
Any theory worth its salt, or any law worthy of the name, should welcome challenge.
Contemporary art, believe it or not, is hot. When comedian Stephen Colbert “begs” British graffiti artist Banksynot to make the walls of his studio’s building the next target in his […]
Frances Townsend, a former Homeland Security Advisor to United States under George W. Bush, brought rosary beads to Saudi Arabia, not realizing that she was committing a crime punishable by death.
Greg Lemond is the first (and only) American to have won the Tour de France, a feat he accomplished three times, and accomplished cleanly.