Dust surrounds the Orion Nebula, a hotbed of star formation some 1,600 light years away. Who knew dust could be this beautiful? The “intricate and picturesque filaments of dust,” as […]
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A beautifully undisturbed, large spiral can be found right at the heart of the Virgo Cluster. “We’ll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no one’s been.” […]
This is exactly what the world needs: a trash-talking robot. Victor likes to think that he’s a a master Scrabble player, and it gives him a superiority complex that he […]
Electrical engineering maestro Steve Ward, then a college student in Illinois, programmed this Tesla coil in 2007 so that each spark sounds like a musical note. In this now classic […]
There’s a reason why the French are the masters of making wine. The earliest evidence of wine-making discovered in France dates back to 425 BC. The French have had time […]
Are we getting closer to building an invisibility cloak? According to new research out of Duke University, science may have built an early ancestor to the science fiction device. Watch […]
Last month in Iceland, a photographer captured this incredible aurora. Iceland’s volcano Öræfajökull can be seen in the foreground. The constellation of Orion is visible to the left of the […]
It’s Monday, and after a relaxing weekend it’s time for coffee. A lot of coffee. But do you know what can happen if you drink too much? There’s such a […]
We’re told that our high-tech meritocracy based on productivity is the source of our enlightenment when it comes to our resolute opposition to racism, sexism, and heterosexism. Certainly the demands […]
Oceans and deserts are on opposite ends of the humidity scale, yet at some weird level, the extremes are interchangeable. Rolling desert dunes are reminiscent of ocean waves, and as […]
The sounds you hear are affected by what you see. Experience it for yourself! “It is the function of art to renew our perception. What we are familiar with we […]
In 1887, two scientists set out to measure how the speed of light changed with the Earth’s motion. What they *didn’t* find wound up changing the world. “The conclusions, the bizarre […]
When eBay revolutionized the way that buyers and sellers interact in the virtual marketplace through automated bidding auctions, it forever changed the way business was conducted online. During the Industrial […]
As far as I know, no major religion holds as a central tenet the unvacuumability of the penis.
This summer, fire up the 3D printer! Here’s another impressive success story from the 3D printing revolution: a kayak. Engineer Jim Smith, founder of Grass Roots Engineering, created a 3D […]
The night sky isn’t actually dark to begin with, according to MinutePhysics. Then why does Space at night appear dark to us? Because our universe is constantly changing and expanding, […]
Recent research suggests that our ancient cousins, the Neanderthals, may have been able to speak. Does this mean that Neanderthals had their own version of “The Ellen DeGeneres Show”? We […]
Stargazers, now you can have a telescope that does the heavy-lifting for you. The Celestron Cosmos 90 GT is costly ($400), but it works with your Wi-Fi to search the heavens […]
Your needs can’t all be as easily fenced off as land. But that map-like model lurks behind unbalanced ideas about private and public interests. The “public good” is both bedrock […]
From base to summit, Yosemite’s El Capitan is around 3,000 feet, and hiding the north celestial pole in this photograph. But follow the star trails, and you’ll of course get […]
“I much prefer the sharpest criticism of a single intelligent man to the thoughtless approval of the masses.” – Johannes Kepler
After wars end and soldiers come home, it usually takes a while for the war to “come home” to the consciousness of the American people at large. When did the […]
The radiating “donut shape” around Earth has a surprising structure discovered this week. The scientists who made the discovery have dubbed it “zebra stripes.” Wired has the story: The Van […]
One of our favorite blogs, Brain Pickings, has a great piece featuring best-selling author Neil Gaiman: Neil Gaiman — prolific author, champion of the creative life, disciplined writer, sage of […]
It used to be commonly believed that the human nose can pick up 10,000 odors. We were wrong “by a factor of a hundred million,” according to The Washington Post. […]
Popular television shows have actually shaped scientific experiments? Mental Floss provides 9 examples of when researchers used TV shows to study test subjects’ behavior. The shows include classics like Cheers, […]
One day we may need to use the Moon as a “refilling station” or for upscale retirement communities. Before Space commercial developers get any ideas, they better count on engineering […]
Alchemy was once all the rage in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Yes, people actually practiced this witchcraft-like form of chemistry. It centered around uncovering an elixir of life, […]
The speed of light in a vacuum is the limit for massless particles, but massive ones are limited even further! “All our sweetest hours fly the fastest.” -Virgil If you’ve been […]
Introducing Big Think @ GESF. Today, we’re releasing the first set of interviews consisting of answers to questions that you, our audience, sent us over Twitter and Facebook.