Though marketed as a miracle health product, the benefits of antioxidants have been greatly overestimated, say researchers. In some cases, they have been shown to aggravate health problems.
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David Brooks has a generous and eloquent column on the decision of “crunchy conservative” Rod Dreher to move back to his hometown of St. Francisville, LA. Dreher is embracing the […]
Open any American history textbook and you’ll find it there—Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze’s 1851 painting Washington Crossing the Delaware. George Washington’s steely profile cutting through the wind as he stands in […]
This short animation was submitted to Big Think by Morgan Miller. You can visit his site at www.slushingbrooks.com. “Slushing Brooks is the name of the fictious working class neighborhood where most of […]
How would we redesign economies, markets, and organizations to help us live better? Umair Haque gives three lessons for turning the crumbling dream of prosperity into an opportunity.
An increasing number of colleges are beginning to offer courses or entire programs devoted to green business practices. Bard College is the latest to offer an MBA in sustainable business.
A buddy of mine told me yesterday that his youngest son, who is all of five years old, walked up to him on Christmas morning and said “Dad, we never […]
A former Apple engineer who launched his own wireless networking start up puts his customers in direct contact with his engineers. Running a lean business keeps him competitive.
When you’ve got a business idea, it’s easy to get excited and start talking it up to possible investors. Often, this happens before the concept is fully baked. And that can mean missed opportunities.
The best businesspeople don’t know everything. They’re the ones who are brave and truthful enough to admit mistakes—and learn the most from them along the way.
My previous post quoted Peter Hitchens, the conservative Christian brother of the late Christopher Hitchens, to criticize some of his views on divine command morality. To my surprise, it drew […]
I’d be remiss if I let 2011 slip by without a tribute to Elizabeth Bishop (1911–1979), who was born a century ago and who now looms larger over contemporary poetry […]
What’s the Big Idea? China has just made its intentions clear. According to a recently released white paper, it is now official Chinese policy to launch the country’s own space […]
We survey the groundbreaking ideas of 2011 from experts such as Daniel Kahneman, Ray Kurzweil, Peter Diamandis, Sal Khan, Daniel Burrus, Michio Kaku, Steven Pinker and many others.
If you don’t like the weather in New England, wait a minute. So goes the saying that is loosely attributed to Mark Twain. The same cannot be said of the […]
What’s the Big Idea? 2011 was a year of revolution. Oppressive regimes from Tunisia to Russia were either toppled or challenged. Social unrest broke out in England and in countless […]
You know the type of book that your library would like someone to take home and never return? I picked a little gem this way recently called How to Find […]
Carbon nanotubes have been in the research phase for a decade. Will they ever break out and benefit society at large? Engineers continue looking for a way to scale their production.
The hottest investment right now may be U.S. treasury bonds. Daniel Kruger reports this week that here was record demand for treasuries in 2010. At a recent auction for four-week bonds […]
Cloud-based email provider Mimecast is looking to change the concept of email. The company’s co-founder says the medium must become more collaborative to meet business needs.
In the spring of next year, MIT will begin offering some of its courses online, for free. Degrees will not be awarded but certificates will be given to students who successfully master the lessons.
Handheld technology is changing the way education is delivered because it allows children to learn ‘anywhere, anytime, any place’ and the ‘magic’ of new technologies is proving inspiring.
No single online social network will ever replace Facebook, says Alexis Madrigal. Social networks will build on top of each other and people will belong to several networks at once.
With less than a week to go before the Iowa Caucus, it looks like former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum finally has some momentum. According to the latest CNN poll, Santorum […]
SETI, or the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence, could be used to look for evidence of alien technology on the surface of the moon. Sure, it’s a long shot. But what if we found something?
Did you go to the movies in 2011? Many hundreds of millions of people did, resulting in 1.26 billion tickets sold worldwide. And yet, this is the lowest amount of tickets […]
An astrophysicist and an economist have created a calendar in which each new 12-month period is identical to the one which came before, and remains that way from one year to the next in perpetuity.
Out of the Slow Food movement, which eschews convenience-oriented fast foods, comes Slow Money: A market-based approach to improving the economy through local investment.
When big business figures stand besides social causes, the world seems to take note. Which capitalist will side with the planet by making environmental destruction a crime against peace?
By attracting business to the area and supporting local producers, hyper-local food sellers are bringing more jobs to localities than non-locally owned businesses, reports San Francisco.