Is the West presently severely disadvantaged with regard to Asia, if not in relative decline?
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This week Big Think decided to give Twitter a big bear hug. Why? We realized the Twitosphere had (undeservedly) become the neglected stepchild of our various social media profiles. To […]
It’s fashionable and easy to blame vast, mysterious, authoritarian China for our economic problems. It’s also not quite fair.
Every Wednesday, Michio Kaku will be answering reader questions about physics and futuristic science. If you have a question for Dr. Kaku, just post it in the comments section below […]
Get your company going in just 54 hours. That’s what many businesses have accomplished by condensing their ideas and pitching to local entrepreneurs and investors.
Leadership in Congress is on the wane, say Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson. Budget negotiations remain weighed down by special interests while the public yearns for big action.
Great thinkers are not much if their ideas never get noticed. And hey, it’s a jungle out there. Here is some advice about getting your thoughts into the marketplace—and getting noticed.
In my previous post in this series, I quoted a shockingly anti-atheist letter written by Rev. John Buehrens, former president of the Unitarian Universalist Association. This letter repeated all the […]
From making your pitch to knowing when to leave as C.E.O., Richard Branson looks at common mistakes entrepreneurs make and gives advice about how to avoid them.
As I mentioned earlier, I’ll be at Skepticon IV this weekend in Springfield, Missouri, and I’m eagerly looking forward to it. Given the sheer number of fantastic speakers, we’re at […]
Using about 400 transistors, M.I.T. computer scientists have created a silicon chip that mimics one human synapse, removing a barrier to creating a machine that can learn like people.
“We are at the cusp of a revolution in medicine and biotechnology that will radically increase not just our life spans but also, and more importantly, our health spans,” says Sonia Arrison, author of 100: How the Coming Age of Longevity Will Change Everything.
These words describe love, desire, and relationships that have no real English translation but they capture subtle realities that even English speakers have felt once or twice.
If astronomers spot a big one headed our way, our risk perception will switch to “It COULD happen to me, and SOON” and we’ll take the threat more seriously.
Reading the daily news (probably on a PC or tablet device) one might have the notion that ebooks were on a killing spree, destroying every part of the old media […]
It was a year ago that Ricky Gervais hosted the Golden Globe Awards and joked The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) accepts bribes. That joke certainly ruffled some feathers since a […]
Among the counterintuitive facts that leadership expert Jim Collins has uncovered is that personal charisma is largely irrelevant in successful leadership. In fact, it can be dangerous.
Advancements in 3D printing technology are revolutionizing consumption and manufacturing. Instead of throwing broken items away, fix them by printing a croudsourced spare part!
–Guest post by American University graduate student Natalie Shuster. Since 2009, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has engaged in active conversation with national pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies regarding the […]
During his lifetime, Diego Rivera stood as one of the most important and controversial artists in the world. Today, thanks to the international feminist phenomenon of Frida Kahlo (who stood […]
Google has unveiled a music purchasing platform that allows musicians to directly upload their songs for purchase, bypassing record labels entirely. Is this the nail in the coffin?
Yesterday, Big Think Expert and renowned Shakespeare scholar Stephen Greenblatt won the National Book Award for nonfiction for bringing to life a 15th century book-hunting expedition that changed the world. A true […]
All fiction has, at its heart, the enigma of character. What happens if science co-opts this question?
What’s the difference between a Jackson Pollock painting and a finger-painting? Why is “The Magic Flute” so enduring, while other classical compositions have been forgotten? Leon Botstein, the dean of Bard College, examines what we’re talking about when we talk about art.
Tim Harford, Britain’s answer to Malcolm Gladwell, explains how one of the biggest turnarounds in Broadway history, Movin’ Out, teaches us a fundamental lesson about our ability to adapt.
— Guest post by Luis Hestres, American University doctoral student. To say that new information technologies are revolutionizing political activism has become a tried and true cliché. It also happens […]
Researchers at Stanford University have found a new ultra-low power source for transmitting data via microchips. The development could bring about a new generation of computers.
Steve Jobs was right again. A year and a half after Apple’s late founder endorsed HTML5, the programming technique is quickly winning over programmers and website developers.
The old adage that the key to creativity is to view the world through the eyes of a child has never been more relevant. Ever since this summer’s release of […]
On Tuesday night, I attended a debate at NYU’s Skirball Center that was part of the Intelligence Squared debate series, “Resolved: The World Would Be Better Off Without Religion“. Supporting […]