“Why are we picking at these carcasses of creativity?” Holly Finn asks in a recent Wall Street Journal article, pointing her critical finger at the particular corpse of Damien Hirst’s […]
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An idea which devastated many of my previous assumptions has implications for important views many of us hold. It also indicates the underlying basis of this blog itself. Investigating what […]
Perhaps the government agency should take some advice from the Bard himself. “Brevity is the soul of wit,” says Polonius, a longwinded fool who was unable to follow his own advice.
Ancient asteroid strikes may have carried life on Earth to another planet, say astronomers. They say it could have happened when the Earth was forming around our sun some 4 billion years ago.
As our ability to identify planets beyond our solar system improves, it is becoming clear that our planetary neighborhood may not be so unique, meaning other Earths are well within the realm of possibility.
Sex hormones like estrogen and testosterone don’t just race around the body, helping to facilitate reproductive behaviors. We now know that the brain is full of receptors for these sex […]
For the first time ever, scientists have watched two spiral galaxies collide, demonstrating how elliptical galaxies form and how black holes can rapidly drain their star-making potential.
Spiritual teacher Andrew Cohen will be joining us on Big Think Live this Friday at 4pm Eastern time. His philosophy and spiritual method, evolutionary enlightenment, is an approach to achieving […]
Does Facebook kindle romantic jealousy? Can your choice of “relationship status” in a profile affect your relationship? Three recent articles from the journal Cyberpsychology & Behaviortackle these questions of love […]
What’s the Big Idea? The words “Renaissance man” get thrown around a lot these days, but Nathan Myrhvold’s career evokes the true spirit of the phrase. More polymath than genius, the […]
The surreal coverage of the Trayvon Martin killing these last 24 hours seems like an episode of Law and Order. We are now at the point in the show when […]
As part of considering the costs and benefits of major regulations, the federal government assigns a dollar value to human life. This is not a real person, just an […]
It’s springtime and you know what that means. The Large Hadron Collider is back up and running, now with more energy than ever. The collider has already set new world energy records.
The Amazon.com founder has pledged a sizable chunk of his fortune, about $18 billion, toward developing new technology aimed at taking astronauts and civilians into space.
As of March 1, Nevada became the first state in the nation where it is legal for driverless cars to take to the roads, provided they identify themselves with red […]
As I mentioned in my last link roundup, I wanted to discuss in more detail the Pope’s latest Easter homily, in which he directly addresses the “disobedience” of priests who […]
I’ve often written (although never on Big Think, until today) about Kiva, a nonprofit organization that connects charitable donors with microfinance institutions that cater to entrepreneurs in the developing world. […]
By spending a cool $1 billion to acquire the photo sharing app Instagram, Facebook wants to increase its mobile presence and bring better photo quality to its Timeline platform.
What is the Big Idea? Israel ranked 14th on the United Nations first World Happiness Report launched on April 2. Topping the list are peaceful and ultra-liberal countries like Denmark, Finland, […]
A previously German-only social media platform, which combines the features of LinkedIn, Quora and a blogging platform, has officially launched in the English-speaking world.
People tend to see their ideological affiliation as constitutive of their identity in a way their opinion about, say, the ontology of mental illness isn’t.
While working at a start up may have more cultural caché, getting a job at a corporation provides opportunities for leadership and innovation that are already scaled.
A survey of over 1,200 European business executives yielded five general personality types which differ according to their role in the innovation process. Which do you best fit?
No matter the job, institutions increasingly require applicants to maintain an online presence, whether than means managing content, tweaking a website’s design or writing code in earnest.
The very technology that keeps us constantly connected to work can also create a new understanding of labor in the modern age. The no-hour work week means using technology humanely.
A new start-up is offering a fast track to satisfying employment by connecting applicants with jobs that offer more emotional fulfillment than a big pay check, though that doesn’t hurt.
Nobody tasked with running a business wants to join another social networking platform. Here are some ways to use the platforms you already subscribe to more effectively.
A new mode of civic engagement in New York City, “participatory budgeting,” may help bridge the gap between our country’s foundational principles and our tendency to let ourselves be shepherded by elected leaders. Rousseau would be proud.
With the passing of Steve Jobs, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos is the technology sector’s leading CEO-philosopher. Here are some tips directly from the man who continues innovating the Internet.
Facebook has just spent a lot of money to purchase a photo sharing app that costs zero dollars to use and has no source of revenue. That sounds to us a lot like a bubble market.