Textbooks–and perhaps, uniquely, economics textbooks–are not known for their literary brilliance. Why should they be? Does math need metaphor? In college when we think about numbers we think about things […]
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Rarely has so much buzz surrounded a Big Think guest. It was our pleasure today to have historian of technology Dr. Rachel Maines in to discuss her bestselling 1999 volume, […]
After President Obama’s recent speeches—one at West Point proposing sending more troops to Afghanistan and one accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo—commentators have been quick to articulate the “Obama […]
Today at 2:00 EST, Big Think’s President and Co-Founder Peter Hopkins will host a live interview with the prominent author and economist Richard Florida, author of “The Rise of the […]
There was no small amount of irony in the fog that delayed the flights of the Wall Street bankers scheduled to meet with President Obama this morning. For many Americans, […]
Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns has tackled a wide variety of subjects, from jazz to baseball to war, but all have one thing in common: they cut somehow to the heart […]
Graphic novel “Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth” is surprisingly fun, despite the book’s subject being analytical philosophy’s search for the foundations of mathematics.
Computer viruses which “attack your dignity” have been rampaging through social networking sites Facebook and Twitter, sending embarrassing messages to friends and co-workers.
Last night the world’s most prolific “annual cosmic fireworks show” twinkled across the night sky with the peak of the Geminid meteor shower.
Astronomers claim to have accurately measured the distance from Earth to a black hole for the first time and have found it is much closer than initially presumed.
Debt-laden Dubai will receive a welcome cash injection from neighbouring Abu Dhabi, which has agreed to provide $10bn in financing to help steer the region out of difficulties.
The Italian Prime Minister Silivio Berlusconi is recovering in hospital after being left with a broken nose and teeth in an assault by a crowd member during a political rally.
US President Barack Obama told talk-show-host Oprah Winfrey last night that he feels he deserves a “good, solid B+” for his first 11 months in office.
Iranian authorities have reportedly arrested several people in connection with the destruction of photographs of the country’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Paper could be used to power your laptop according to scientists who have developed a high tech battery from the standard writing surface by coating it in special materials.
Leading climate change scientists have trounced studies claiming global warming is a natural phenomenon connected with sunspots rather than man-made emissions.
Amidst a recession and against the rigid political order that dominated New York in the early 1980s, Ed Koch managed to pass a landmark bill for New York City prohibiting […]
You don’t need to leave a carbon footprint (plane ticket to Copenhagen) or submit to the press pass racket ($250 to declareyourself a journalist) to get access to the political […]
An openly gay woman who doesn’t toe the business establishment’s line was elected the mayor of Houston yesterday.
Several conservative commentators are looking to establish themselves as the conservative Huffington Post.
Some critics admire Disney’s new entrepreneurial black princess and her interracial relationship with the frog prince.
Hair samples from ancient Peruvians contain hormones that indicate they suffered from stress just like we post-moderns do.
Tomorrow President Obama is expected to challenge national banks to lend more to small businesses, cut predatory credit card rates and support financial reform.
Nearly 1,000 people were arrested in the Danish capital last night while protesting the lack of progress at the U.N. Climate Change Conference.
A federal panel of health experts recommends reducing mammogram frequency for both medical and financial reasons.
A mixture of polo and football requiring a decapitated goat is the elite Afghan sport called Buzkashi.
Congress has devolved the power of marijuana legalization to the District of Columbia moving the District toward unofficial statehood.
A large cargo plane carrying 35 tons of weapons en route from North Korea was detained in Thailand when the plane stopped to refuel.
More than perhaps any other genre, poetry has the ability to unite past and present into a unified experience. Whether drawing from scattered memories of random passersby, the Napoleonic Wars, […]
“I will tell you that I think the most important thing I can do for the African-American community is the same thing I can do for the American community, period, […]