The birth-control battle that’s dominated headlines for the past few weeks seems to be winding down, as religious conservatives belatedly realize it’s not a winning issue for them. But given […]
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Another bead of sweat breaks through Zafar’s collar. He twists his neck, irritated. One morning cool enough for a suit is too much to ask from clay-oven Karachi, even for this day.
“Mr. Khan, welcome. Please follow me.” The white man’s collar is crisp, dry.
No carnefab Manager liked hearing from an NFA Inspector, but especially not when the message said, “Fieldspec high neuro count. Site audit 213245-1330. Pres Req.” Paul Ingersoll read the message and checked the time. 213245-1312.
It was a fact that on Planet Xeron 12, the gods ate small children. It wasn’t that these celestial highness’s gained extraordinary powers or insights from the experience–small people simply tasted good. Naja Krait wasn’t about to lose her only child to the greedy, Elysian mouths.
Happy International Day of You, women of the world. Unfortunately it remains internationally respectable to argue that science has shown that men are inherently better at math and scientific pursuits […]
What is the Big Idea? Thanks to the power of social media, a new 29 minute video aimed at capturing an international criminal has been viewed more than 30 million […]
The Big Think, Short Fiction contest was born out of our desire to find new ways of connecting with readers and foregrounding their voices on the site. Today we’re proud to publish the three winning entries, selected by author Nathan Englander.
The United States is entering uncharted waters as a superpower, as it slowly climbs out of a crippling recession and faces an electoral showdown this fall between cautious globalism and […]
There are few people I disagree with more than Sarah Palin, but I’m surprised that the famed Correspondents’ Dinner this year will feature the comedian Louis C.K., who’s said some […]
When author Nathan Englander visited Big Think, I had one major question for him, which I asked in about six different ways. How, I wondered, do you dare to embark […]
Mitt Romney is looking more and more like the inevitable Republican nominee. Romney won 6 of the 10 Super Tuesday states, including the crucial state of Ohio. He won the […]
A small non-profit called Invisible Children has created a huge stir over a highly-produced half-hour video which garnered millions of views in just hours. Did you see it? What do you think?
In the annals of heroic human defenses against sharks, Polish kite surfer Jan Lisewski might just take the cake. Lisewski is the first person to kite surf across the Baltic Sea, a […]
The 2012 Skyscraper Competition sponsored by the architecture journal eVolo inspired some amazing designs that predict the planet’s future population and geographical changes.
When Tim Cook introduced Apple’s new iPad, spoke of the post-PC revolution. What does that world look like? Will we recognize it when it arrives? Should you stop buying computers?
Nothing haunts like a skeleton in the closet. When art museums and cultural institutions talk about their treasures, there are always a few items they’d rather keep out of the […]
What’s the Big Idea? Happy International Women’s Day! This is the first of many events throughout the month which focus on celebrating the historic achievements of women around the world, […]
What’s the Big Idea? Peggielene Bartels was an administrative assistant in Washington D.C. when she got a phone call informing her she’d been elected King of Otuam, the Ghanian fishing […]
Using standard chip making parts, IBM has created a super-fast optical processing chip by drilling a series of holes through the back which allow light to pass into the core of the chip.
Artificial intelligence engineered by computer scientists at Imperial College London can create entirely new video games practically from scratch. The achievement is a milestone in AI technology.
A Meditation on the Indefinable Nature of the Divine God is Love. How many times have we heard the word “love” being used to define that which is ultimately indefinable? […]
New computer software which analyzes eye movement can identify whether someone is lying or not with 82.5 percent accuracy, say clinical researchers at the University of Buffalo.
We’ve reached an important inflection point in the development of the world.
2012 is shaping up to be the year of the solar storm. In late January, the largest solar storm in years erupted, sending a cloud of particles streaming from the Sun toward […]
I just can’t help myself. It’s remarkable how little I care about the outcome of the Koch-Cato standoff. Yet, having spent about half my professional life in politics at heavily […]
I’m still not sure what Pinterest is for [1], but scrolling a recommended collection of maps on the site, I couldn’t help but notice that the number of cartographic tattoos […]
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Daniel Junge shined a spotlight on Pakistani women who endured the physical and emotional pain of acid attacks in the documentary Saving Face. The filmmakers followed Dr. […]
Why don’t more leaders in the U.S. have science backgrounds?
Surely the greatest scientific discoveries are the product of imaginative energy and curiosity no less intense or pure than that which animates Hamlet or King Lear. Still, the petty squabble between Reason and Imagination that began in the 17th century persists . . .
Lighten up, says Bill Nye aka The Science Guy. The idea is to get people to embrace science, not force it.