From stock trading to lawmaking to data-driven school reform, we are becoming increasingly dependent on mathematical models to explain the slippery complexity of human nature.
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What it means to go beyond seeing and to actually observe.
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Big Think is searching for a tagline and we want your help! Below you’ll find a long list of taglines suggested by Big Think’s staff and friends. You will find […]
The Dutch-born biologist Frans de Waal has chosen to study not what makes humankind vile and mean but rather what causes us to rise up in support of others, i.e. our moral potential.
Composer, singer, mother, AIDS activist; Alicia Keys wears many different hats, but they all seem to match her spirit of self-respect, humility, and desire to be a role model for her son.
The bulb wars burn brightly on. The members of the U.S. House who represent people for whom anti-government ideology burns more brightly than common sense have come back from […]
Now that the EMMY NOMINATIONS are out, I can give my awards for the best CONVERSATIONAL TV shows. My standard, of course, finds its peaks of excellence in conversational films […]
Passed over for the Secretary of State position, John Kerry has fashioned an active role for himself as a diplomat and foreign policy adviser to Obama. Will he get the job in 2012?
After Tatiana de Rosnay’s novel about the French Holocaust was rejected by some 20 publishers for its dark context, it was finally picked up and promptly sold 5 million copies.
Chairman of the media empire News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch insists his company has made only minor mistakes in the phone hacking scandal now being investigated by the F.B.I.
The release of the eighth film in a series of books and movies marks the end of the epic Harry Potter story. The series has received deserved accolades and is […]
Jim Zarroli and John Ydstie filed stories for NPR this week on the “new normal” for the American economy, with experts anticipating that 2% annual economic growth will be a […]
When you hear the name Samuel F. B. Morse you most likely think about Morse code or the telegraph. In reality, Morse only co-invented the code that bears his name […]
Through a literal deconstruction of the army uniforms of the veterans in the project, the “Combat Paper Project” hopes to provide cathartic healing and deconstruct the pain and trauma that their military service has left them with.
As print sales decline and new e-platforms pop up everywhere, the future of the book has become a source of widespread speculation. In my previous post I asked: what’s the […]
When Frank Bruni was hired as an op/ed columnist for the New York Times, I doubted that he was qualified. His latest column puts those doubts to rest. Bruni is […]
We often forget that standards of what is needed to provide education are very different on our planet. Whereas the developed countries are arguing about whether every child needs an […]
A friendly, but unequivocal rebuttal by the authors of a recent policy paper on Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to Gregory Johnsen’s critique of their suggested counterterrorism measures.
At the newly launched Breakthrough Journal, sociologist Fred Block re-visits Daniel Bell’s classic work The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism providing insight on the rise of Tea Party conservatism, the revolt […]
Do you know how much R.E.M. sleep you got last night? New types of devices that monitor activity, sleep, diet, and even mood could make us healthier and more productive than ever.
Imagine decorating your bedroom walls with paper made from the same solar cells that now power your home. New lightweight solar cells can be printed onto paper at a very low cost.
The British nonprofit group Raspberry Pi aims to inspire young programmers with a desktop computer so inexpensive that schools could hand them out to students free of charge.
Within the next 60 days, state law enforcement agencies across the nation are set to implement a new facial profiling technology that will enable them to scan faces of people […]
Fearing budget cuts, N.A.S.A. chief Charlie Bolden told Congress that the next-generation space telescope has greater potential for discovery than the iconic Hubble Space Telescope.
Owe your friend some cash but forgot your wallet? PayPal announced on Wednesday a new feature that allows phone-to-phone money transfers using technology for Android devices.
Social entrepreneur Peter Thum compares Ethos Water to the Prius, which he says “basically doesn’t solve any problems, but it takes advantage of an imperfect technology and it takes a step in the right direction.”
Guest Post by Michael Phillips (Web/Social Strategist for Dr. Kaku) @MyGrayMatter, ScitechFB In late February, Dr. Kaku posted a blog entry called ‘The Technological Singularity and Merging with Machines‘ which talked […]
More than half of all U.S. companies have banned employees from using Facebook at work. Dylan Taylor argues that on-the-job socializing is essential to the success of the modern enterprise.
The Asch effect has been replicated successfully numerous times, in a variety of contexts, and each time, peer pressure glows strong.