Unemployment and economic output are at near-record highs. So where did all the jobs go? Fast-advancing, IT-driven automation might be playing the biggest role in our current jobs crisis.
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Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, author of The Predictioneer’s Game, shares his foolproof method for getting your next car for the lowest price possible.
A Pennsylvania start up has created a fleet of small robots that farm algae to make biodiesel. While still in an early stage, the robots could make fuel that costs 30 to 60 cents per gallon.
Engineers at MIT have discovered a new way of gathering depth information that could be used to create 3D cameras requiring only the modest processing power of a smartphone.
Before every Apple event the rumor mill is turning and usually it’s all about the next iPhone, iPod, iPad – hence the next device that will just work, boom. But […]
From all of us here at Big Think, Happy 70th birthday, Stephen! If you had only been one of the smartest humans ever, it would have been enough – but you’re something much bigger than that: a model of how to live.
The information revolution has created more data than ever before. By crunching that data, scientists want to predict crime trends, the spread of disease, market behavior and more.
A team of scientists, including chemistry Nobel Laureate George Olah, have turned to solid materials based on polyethylenimine to capture carbon from smokestacks and the open air.
It’s that time again – the annual making of New Year resolutions. We all do it. A well thought out list of good intentions that we will execute faithfully on […]
As was so aptly said just a few days ago: It is hard to make an argument that there are many desirable post-secondary educational or career scenarios for current high […]
–Guest post by Patrick Riley, AoE Culture Correspondent and Filmmaker. Nothing changes on New Year’s Day? U2’s Bono had it right – at least when it comes to media coverage […]
Welcome to the first of my weekly roundups of the upcoming U.S. elections. President Obama’s approval rating remains below 50% and the economy continues to be weak, but political futures […]
The rapid proliferation of mobile devices is making it possible for not just communities, but also entire nations, to narrow the digital divide between society’s have’s and have-not’s. Not only […]
Imagine a drug that allows you to drink as much alcohol as you like, wake up without a hangover and never have to worry about developing a dependency.
–Guest post by Declan Fahy, AoE Science & Culture correspondent Richard Dawkins guest-edited the Christmas edition of British left-wing politics and culture magazine The New Statesman — and it contains […]
A team of physicists from Tel Aviv University says that faster-than-light neutrinos would violate the principle of the conservation of energy in addition to Einstein’s special relativity.
Communities of species previously unknown to science have been discovered on the seafloor near Antarctica, clustered in the hot, dark environment surrounding hydrothermal vents.
An interesting thing happened yesterday in American politics. Mitt Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, beat Rick Santorum, a former senator from Pennsylvania, by just eight votes in the Iowa […]
“Yeah, so Rick Santorum is winning this thing,” my buddy said last night. “So why doesn’t he just go ahead and run for governor of Iowa?” If this were boxing, […]
In our present money crunch, the nation’s debt crisis is often presented as a risk to future generations but economist Dean Baker says the real cross-generational threat is global warming.
With Santorum, Romney and Paul taking the most votes in the Iowa Caucus, where do they stand on space exploration and the future of NASA? Will other candidates make space an issue?
Bioethicist Paul Root Wolpe questions the basic premise of the Singularity concept, arguing that it “misunderstands the complex nature of biological and physical life.”
New methods of creating solar cells cut manufacturing costs nearly in half. The New Jersey-based company is also working to create super-efficient cells by using nanotechnology.
Don’t read too much in to Mitt Romney’s narrow victory in the Iowa caucus. There’s no question that the relatively small state of Iowa has an outsize influence both on […]
No sooner do I make a list of the must-see exhibitions of 2012 that includes exhibitions featuring both David Hockney (above, left) and Damien Hirst (above, right) then we get […]
After our last go-round, Peter Hitchens has posted a further reply. I encourage you to read it in full before reading my response, which follows below: Once again, Peter Hitchens […]
I’ve been thinking about what it means to be a young teen who uses social networks as the primary way of connecting to peers. It used to be that the […]
Once they’re gone, mammalian arms and legs can’t ever be restored. But if you cut off a salamander’s leg it will reappear in just a few weeks. The enigma of amphibian organ regeneration has long puzzled scientists. Now, a new wave of scientists hopes to put it to use.
In my experience it’s easier to change a home design than to change your heart, or your feelings. Take the case of “staying together for the children,” a familiar marital […]
How important is motivation in education? As the nation’s top universities begin to offer free online courses, will developers need to make them more like video games to retain students?