Erik Rasmussen, founder of the Copenhagen Climate Council, doesn’t try to pretend that COP 15 was anything but a failure. The talks concluded without a global climate treaty, and Rasmussen […]
All Articles
Last year, betacup extended a challenge to the creative community to rethink the coffee cup from a sustainable angle that eliminates the 58 million disposable cups America tosses in the […]
At what point does graphic violence and sex turn a literary work into pornography? What are the merits of a story filled with imagery so shocking that it forces some […]
Bard College President Leon Botstein believes that for about half of the high school students in the U.S., college should begin at age 16. “We should have a system that […]
Following in the spirit of U.S. tech mogul Bill Gates, billionaire Azim Premji, the Chairman of Wipro and the second richest man in India, announced recently that he plans to […]
TV, long considered a ‘wasteland’, is enjoying a widely acknowledged creative renaissance at the same time as movies are striking out. Joseph Childers examines why.
‘Student athletes’ are now quasi-mercenaries, performing to boost schools’ bottom lines, argues James O’Toole, who calls for moral leadership from the top institutions.
With the Ronnie Lee Gardner execution making news, Margot Sanger-Katz finds the (limited) research suggesting that the firing squad is actually a pretty good way to go.
“Will Iceland get from bits what Switzerland gets from bank accounts?” the Economist’s Babbage blog asks as Iceland moves closer to being a digital media haven.
Research and a TV program are debunking the myth that fathers who enjoy a close bond with their children are a modern phenomena, reports Steve Humphries.
“Some good may have come out of the astonishing ice loss (in 2007),…the Arctic science community came together to try a new approach to climate science,” writes Alexis Madrigal.
As experts go public with claims that the entertainment industry is exaggerating piracy losses, Ben Jones argues for the industry to put up (real data) or shut up.
German commentators think Barack Obama is in danger of turning into an idealistic, one-term president like Jimmy Carter, explains Michael Scott Moore.
“(Richard) Dawkins and co. are appalled by the belief in God, (Christopher) Hitchens is far more appalled by the idea that anyone would want to obey Him,” observes Ross Douthat.
“When you need to have a meeting, have a meeting…The rest of the time, do the work wherever you like.” Seth Godin lists the reasons that the office is (nearly) dead.
Two days ago, San Francisco mandated that all cell phones bear a new label: amount of radiation emitted. A sort of calorie-labeling for health-conscious tech consumers. The science is arguably […]
Last year’s H1N1 pandemic may have been milder than global health experts had feared, but this is no cause for complacency. Researchers in Hong Kong reported today in the online […]
Over the past few years, bike-sharing systems have gained popularity around the world, experimenting with different models of building a sustainable mode of alternative transportation – from the ad-supported models […]
Jarrett Barrios, the president of GLAAD, was in Big Think’s offices this afternoon to talk about some of the issues involved with gay identity and the challenge of being “out.” […]
Last week, I wrote that Sen. Harry Reid’s (D-NV) opponent, Sharron Angle, would have a hard time appealing to moderate voters. Her views are so far out of the mainstream—at […]
While many people think the U.S.’s military superiority is vital to world security, all of the money and energy that we spend on it may be seriously damaging our economy […]
Lesley Stahl’s interview with Tara Parker-Pope on www.wowowow.com considers the myriad variations on a “good marriage;” what it means for a couple to argue well; and how we might all […]
“A combination gene therapy that endows human stem cells with three ways to resist HIV has passed its first safety test in humans,” reports a study published today in Science Translational Medicine.
“A new study from — where else? — France suggests listening to love songs may increase women’s receptivity to amorous advances,” reports Tom Jacobs for Miller-McCune.
Advances in technology have created the right conditions for free Wi-Fi. Coffee shops and hotels that still charge their customers are being unnecessarily extortionate, says Farhad Manjoo for Slate.com.
Besides the questionable legality of unpaid internships, their popularity entrenches a class system where only the affluent have access to good career opportunities, says the L.A. Times.
“Copenhagen’s failure to deliver a single universal deal opens up space for smaller regionally based deals,” says the former U.K. science advisor who is optimistic about climate change solutions.
Glenn Greenwald says today’s news media do not understand what holding authority accountable means; power wins out, he says: government over the press and business over the government.
There is more evidence of how similar humans are to our primate cousins: a new study from Japan has revealed that monkeys love watching television, especially circus acrobatics.
“‘Wicked Lasers’ new handheld super laser could threaten human existence and the world as we know it, according to the manufacturer,” says the Christian Science Monitor.