“Community is built upon conversations. People like to eat, and they like to talk about it. … The new food movement is still labeled as Do It Yourself, but it’s really Do It Ourselves.”
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“The powers that be have yet to agree on how to compare electric cars with conventional ones, making it difficult for consumers to work out how much money, if any, they will save.”
“The impulse to be social is so deep-seated in human consciousness that it’s even evident in the womb, suggests a new study on the interaction of unborn twins.”
“When we talk about the hipster, we’re talking about a cross-subcultural figure who emerges by 1999 and enjoys a narrow but robust phase of existence from 1999 to 2003.”
Today’s New York Times reported on the phenomenon of declining picture book sales—for children. Pictures, apparently, are not advanced enough for our little ones, even when they are still in […]
NASA’s $150-million, Wilkinson Microwave Anisotrophy Probe (WMAP) has been gathering information about the nature of our Universe for nine years and has changed the way we think about it forever. […]
This year Californians will vote on a ballot proposition that would legalize the sale and possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use. Democrats around the country will be […]
In a front page story at the NY Times today, Bill Vlasic describes efforts by Nissan and the Federal government to cultivate the first generation buyers of the Nissan Leaf, […]
The annual cull of the endangered pilot dolphins just off the coast of the remote Faroe Islands is barbarism.
Many of the guests who we interview at Big Think can be described as “giants” in their fields, but this week we actually hosted our tallest guest ever. John Amaechi, […]
Disability is one of the areas where design can make the most meaningful difference in quality of life. This was certainly true of Amanda Boxtel, who has been confined to […]
This paper in the current issue of the journal Neuron claims to add some MRI findings to the evidence that human empathy and kindness stop at the border between “our […]
Re-election campaigns distract U.S. presidents from their executive duties. Should we eliminate them in favor of longer terms?
According to a new, nationally representative, dataset released this week, black Americans use condoms during vaginal intercourse significantly more than white Americans.
Long week. I gave two exams, so I get to look forward to an exciting weekend of grading. Yup, that is the part of the job that is likely the […]
For those in the DC area, the following Oct. 11 event that I highlighted earlier this week, has been switched to the National Press Club due to demand for tickets. […]
J. M. Coetzee on Philip Roth’s ‘Nemesis’: “A good education, and not just for older persons: how to dig a grave, how to write, how to face death, all in one.”
A young violinist was made suicidal because of a critical byproduct of our time: the small inviolate zone of privacy that we all need has now become virtually impossible to maintain.
“Laptops in college classrooms are no longer just educational tools – they’re distracting our future workers. During class, students tumble down these rabbit holes of diversion.”rn
“Renowned Mexican historian and journalist Enrique Krauze on how Mario Vargas Llosa’s novels revealed Latin America’s soul — and exorcised its demons.”
New research suggests that laughter, in the form of a reflex-like reaction to touch, has been adopted into human social behaviour from animal behaviour.
“‘The Social Network’…does a brilliant job dissecting the sorts of people who become stars in an information economy and a hypercompetitive, purified meritocracy.”
“A taste of the small-government, anti-spending Tea Party would do a world of good to conservatives in Australia and Europe,” opines columnist Janet Albrechtsen.
Greece is broke so Prime Minister George Papandreou has cut spending, raised taxes and is trying to reeducate his people and steer them away from tax evasion and corruption.
“Debunking the myth of the lone maverick, health researchers suggest that groups of doctors outperform individuals not only in diagnosing problems but also in treating them.”
‘Waiting for Superman’, David Guggenheim’s documentary about the fissures in public education system, made Helena Andrews re-examine her privileged private education.
You may have heard about Dan Savage’s video outreach campaign, “It Gets Better.” The campaign was inspired by a spate of news stories about gay teens committing suicide in the […]
Last week, 85-year old obstretician Robert G. Edwards was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine for his breakthrough treatment of infertility commonly known as IVF (in-vitro fertilization). Edwards’s idea was […]
Over the past few months, we’ve been covering somenoteworthycontenders for the prestigious James Dyson Award for student design innovation. This week, the global winner was finally announced – the LONGREACH […]
In Britain, there is much talk of something called the ‘Big Society’. This in essence is a set of ideas being promulgated by the Prime Minister, David Cameron and the […]