A provision of the new health care law, which requires health insurance companies to spend 80% of the consumers’ premium dollars they collect on actual medical care, has entered into force.
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A new Pew survey reveals that as the economy shows signs of a modest recovery, public belief in climate change may be on the rise. Understanding how climate change perceptions […]
By producing medically useful amounts of endoderm cells from human stem cells, Canadian scientists have overcome a major hurdle in developing treatments for diabetes and liver diseases.
California’s 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that it is not a federal crime to sell your bone marrow. A lawyer in the case says your marrow could go for as much as three grand.
Some studies are finding that male circumcision decreases the odds that a heterosexual man will contract HIV by 57 percent or more. The operation is being performed more frequently.
Scientists in California have shown that a single injection of an HIV-neutralizing antibody into the muscle cells of live mice completely protected the animals against HIV transmission.
While inbreeding increases the risk of birth defects among close relatives, research demonstrates it is not the horror story we image. In some cases, it may produce healthier offspring.
By extracting stem cells from patients with diseases like diabetes, Down syndrome, Parkinson’s disease and schizophrenia, scientists can examine how the disorders affect the body.
When the bodies of newborns lack iron, physical and mental development can be stifled. New research suggests that leaving the umbilical cord attached longer prevents iron deficiencies.
The typical American kindergarten now resembles a really bad first-grade classroom. Even preschool teachers are told to sacrifice opportunities for imaginative play in favor of drilling young children until they master a defined set of skills.
A well-managed loop that links customer experience feedback with recommendations on social networks like Facebook and Twitter can increase traffic and create happier customers.
Even though it’s beneficial for the US to cooperate with the Chinese wherever and whenever possible, we must have the confidence and will to compete with them in markets where we can press our advantage and fortify our own economy.
A November Pew survey reveals a slight upward shift in public belief in climate change. A number of factors likely account for the rise in belief but the most parsimonious explanation […]
Historian Niall Ferguson responds to a recent study suggesting that the US is on the verge of a manufacturing renaissance. He believes that major legal and economic reforms would have to take place first.
Big Think seems to be involved in a lot of meme-creation these days. And two prominent examples, featuring past Big Think experts Neil deGrasse Tyson and Salman Rushdie, happen to involve the word “badass.”
Barney Frank, the outspoken Congressman from Massachusetts, has resigned after three decades as a legislator. Even his allies say his abrasive manner stood in the way of reform.
–Guest post by Helen Wong, American University graduate student. In August 2011 the United Nations (UN) officially announced that Somalia was under famine. According to Ban Ki-Moon, the secretary general […]
Once the purview of lean start ups, big business is finally learning the disruptive innovation game. By entering new markets and listening to the little guys, big may be here to stay.
–Guest post by Francesca Ernst, American University graduate student. As we draw closer to November 2012, pundits, columnists, and reporters alike are all discussing the ways President Obama must transcend […]
Starting a business is not just about making money. A growing class of individuals are helping communities prosper through market-based solutions and profiting in the mean time.
Sleeping under your desk, eating food in bar form, dreading once-pleasant social diversions. If this is what it takes to start a new company, is it worth it? Are you being made a slave?
For many Americans a “moment of Zen” is the segment that ends every episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Those brief glimpses of contemporary life usually reprise an […]
I may have mentioned that, at Skepticon IV, JT Eberhard gave a fantastic talk on why the skeptical community must concern itself with mental illness. For the most part, the […]
Tonight, I’m happy to announce that I’ll be speaking to the Secular Student Alliance at Syracuse University on December 9, one week from tomorrow. The talk will be about ethics […]
One virtue BIG THINK has not been big on is COURAGE. That might be a problem. According Aristotle, courage is not only the first of the virtues, but all the […]
The venture capital firm Acumen Fund proposes market-based solutions to aid the world’s poor rather than giving out free money. Its businesses are successful but do they help communities?
Nobel prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman, author of the new book Thinking, Fast and Slow, knows more than most about how people make decisions. And we often make them badly. As a rule, Kahneman would advise people to slow down their decision-making whenever possible.
A new book argues “we and our children may be the most significant generations of humans that have yet lived,” which means we carry a far greater burden of responsibility than any previous generation.
Love is an epiphany. Maybe that’s the sweetest romantic dream of all. By the big bang theory of mate selection, our soul mate is out there somewhere, and they’re going […]
When Facebook becomes a publicly traded company, it stands to earn $24 billion. So why doesn’t Mark Zuckerberg compensate us? After all, we supply all the personal data he sells to advertisers.