“A Swedish study finds that 70-year-olds in 2000 did better on intelligence tests than 70-year-olds had done in 1971.” Scientific American reports on the aging process.
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“Because the coldhearted equations of classical economics neglect emotion, their description of our decisions remained woefully incomplete.” The Frontal Cortex on the irrational consumer.
The last day of The Daily Beast’s ideas forum in New Orleans features talks from political thinkers like James Carville and business leaders from India and China.
Is an Obamaville in your future? That’s the question asked by a mailer sent in by one of Greg Sargent’s readers. The mailer is sponsored by the 60 Plus Association, […]
Willow Smith, Will and Jada Smith’s precocious 9 year old daughter, just released her single “Whip My Hair,” a smash hit that heralds a great career. Are 9-year old superstars […]
It is not because Julian Assange reminds us of Errol Morris. It is because Julian Assange reminds us of Robert S. McNamara. His precision and self-assurance are coupled with mission, […]
There are seismic events which have such import, that it is possible to remember exactly where one was and what one was doing when the news first broke. I was […]
The online video series, created by sex columnist Dan Savage and his husband Terry in response to recent LGBT teen suicides, has reached the White House. Savage talks to Big Think about its success.
The anti-plastic crusade of the past few years has focused largely on bottled water, but the beverage market isn’t the only culprit for the plastic bottle epidemic. Replenish aims to […]
We all know that when it comes to buying a house the three most important factors to consider are location, location, and location. There is anecdotal evidence that if you […]
When I wrote a couple of days ago that German Chancellor Angela Merkel is wrong to blame immigrants to Germany for failing to adapt to German norms quickly enough, one […]
When an industrialized nation’s population shrinks, fewer and fewer working-age people have to support more and more retirees.
Dogs and other furry mammals shake to dry themselves off. Experimenters at the Georgia Institute of Technology calculated how fast an animal has to oscillate to overcome surface tension and throw water off its hairs.
Colombia A number of Eruptions readers have noted reports that Galeras in Colombia appears to be increasing its activity this week. Well, the rumors are true – an official from […]
Insects’ benefits are valued at £134bn and coral’s at £109bn in a pioneering report equating biodiversity to cash in the hope of encouraging conservation.
Heuristics are cognitive rules of thumb we all use in routine decision-making and yet the concept is little known outside the labs and offices of academia.
“We would all be better off — Muslim Americans first and foremost —if we could have a more open discussion about Islam, Islamic militancy and what … it means to be Muslim.”
“I’m as concerned about startups using Rapleaf’s API as I am about how the company continues to mine data from huge data-rich social services such as LinkedIn.”
“California is not just deciding whether pot should be legal. It’s determining the shape of a major new American industry.”
Ross Douthat: “I’m cautiously optimistic that the Cameron government is taking the right course in Britain — and somewhat more pessimistic about America’s capacity to follow suit.”
Finding frozen water in some parts of the moon has implications for space exploration including the possible supply of water and oxygen for a manned moonbase.
“Chancellor Angela Merkel says multiculturalism has been an utter failure in Germany… But is it really such a bad thing when immigrant groups prefer to be among themselves?”
“A marathoner’s worst nightmare — hitting ‘the wall’ — may be completely avoidable if athletes adhere to personalized pace limits proposed by a biomedical engineer and runner.
“Foreign occupation, not religious fervor, is the primary motivation behind this form of terrorism.”
What if you had a crystal ball that could predict the rise and fall of the stock market? Or that predicted which candidate would win the election and thus if […]
There is a popular narrative in the West that Islam is sexist. But aside from fundamentalist practices like honor killings, does moderate Islam actually deny women freedoms?
Conservatives have long accused billionaire George Soros of funding activist watchdog group Media Matters. Soros has been suspected of being behind every liberal group after giving more than $23 million […]
Do you acquire power and exercise control with assertive authority like Secretary of State Hillary Clinton—or do you lead with sociable consensus like media queen Oprah Winfrey? Take this Big Think quiz to find which well-known female leader your style is most like.
The money you donate to feed starving children may actually be prolonging war in places like Darfur and Somalia, says Dutch journalist Linda Polman.
Last night on CNN, Jon Stewart told Larry King that the Rally to Restore Sanity “is in fact not a political rally,” and instead will be an extension of the […]