Every Wednesday, Dr. Michio Kaku answers reader questions about physics and futuristic science. If you have a question for Dr. Kaku, just post it in the comments section below and […]
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Batman is wrong to be nonlethal in the case of the Joker. This shows we can, in some cases, morally kill someone against his will. I am something of a […]
The question of my last post: Why do we deny that it’s our nature to die? The answer from many of my threaders: We aren’t merely or even essentially natural […]
Environmental groups and climate activists have been harshly critical of Mitt Romney’s unfortunate backtracking on climate science and his commitment to policy action. Much of the criticism has argued that […]
The space telescope has worsened NASA’s relationships with Congress, who felt duped by the exploding cost of the project. Still, the telescope may prove an amazing technical achievement.
The Hubble Space Telescope has confirmed that a distant planet discovered in 2009 is largely composed of water. Its physical attributes could mean an exotic mix of elements are present.
The winds of stellar-mass black hole have been clocked at 20 million miles per hour. Curiously, scientists say the winds carry away as much matter as the black hole draws in.
LONDON, February 22 – It’s been a rough week for Richard Dawkins, prominent evolutionary biologist and noted God-hater. Our reporters can reveal that on Monday, while Dawkins was ordering breakfast […]
When we think family, we often think values, tradition, averages: 2 parents, 2.5 kids. But the concept of what makes up a family is anything but stable, says Sonia Arrison, a policy analyst who studies the impact of new technologies on society. And due to an unprecedented recent increase in longevity, it’s changing again.
It took ESPN 35 minutes to remove its controversial “Chink in the Armor” headline about Jeremy Lin. It took Senate candidate Pete Hoekstra a lot longer to remove a political […]
Earlier today I answered five questions for PBS’ NewsHour on the elections in Yemen and what it means going forward. Since I covered a lot of ground in the Q-and-A […]
Francis Tapon is the author of the new book, The Hidden Europe: What Eastern Europeans Can Teach Us. This article is an adapted excerpt from the chapter on Slovenia.
Following the meltdown of the financial system in 2008, subsequent economic downturn, innumerable investigative journalism pieces about the big banks and investment practices, and finally the rise of the Occupy […]
In January, super PACs out fundraised and spent their aligned GOP candidates. Given that independent TV ads tend to be disportionately more negative than candidate ads, there has been a […]
In Acts of God and Man: Ruminations on Risk and Insurance,Michael Powers examines how risk impacts our lives, health, and possessions and how we can go about analyzing the uncertainty. In […]
Depending on which economist has the stage, America’s economy is either experiencing slow growth, remains dismally flat, or stands ready to fall off a cliff. Nearly everyone agrees that the economy needs help. The nation’s debt and budget deficits are reaching, or have already reached, fiscal crisis levels. Historians will analyze someday how close the United States came during this period to reaching the economic breaking point as a nation. Truth be told, some fear that the breaking point may still occur.
So far we’ve had Free Market Jesus, Cowboy Jesus, Mack Daddy Jesus, and Finally Come To Jesus as front runners in the Republican primary. Now we’ve got My Jesus Is […]
There has been growing interest in finding ‘second generation’ alternatives to food crops that “don’t grow on arable land and instead can be used specifically for bio-fuels.”
Facebook profiles assessed by a three-judge panel accurately reflected employee evaluations from each of the users’ employers. Should Facebook be used as a job-screening tool?
The multinational corporation Cisco Systems estimates that mobile-connected devices will outnumber humans by 2012. By 2016, mobile connection speed will increase ninefold.
Since the Justice Department’s actions against Megaupload, copyrighters have begun winning major victories over online file-sharing programs. The Pirate Bay remains defiant.
Start ups that encourage people to share their personal vehicles are becoming increasingly popular. Each offers their own system to entice you to make money from lending out your car.
In his groundbreaking 1995 book Descartes’ Error, neuroscientist Antonio Damasio describes Elliott, a patient who had no problem understanding information, but who nonetheless could not live a normal life. Elliott […]
Online data security continues to prove insufficient, whether it is Facebook hanging on to old photos or Path uploading users’ address books to their servers. Can insurance redress the damage?
‘Headline thinking’ — which last week I defined as the natural human tendency to “equate the actions of a certain person (or certain specific people) with the actions of a generic […]
In the car, I listen to country music. Country has an ideology. Not to say country has a position on abortion, exactly. But country music, taken as a whole, has […]
Working at Big Think was a constant kick in the pants of my imagination. As a writer, I couldn’t have asked for a job that provided more and stranger ideas […]
Peter Gleick, a water and climate analyst at the Pacific Institute and member of the National Academies, has admitted in a blog post at the Huffington Post to having obtained […]
A satirical take on the financial crisis of the 1720s
How do you transform factory era school systems so that they better serve the needs of an information age society? You don’t do it by being timid. Unlike most school […]