Former Big Think guest Benoit Mandelbrot, the father of fractal geometry, has died of cancer at the age of 85, according to the New York Times. The newspaper describes him […]
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Dr. Kaku’s Universe and Big Think want to make you even better informed than you already are with subscriptions to four great magazines. To enter, simply post a comment in […]
As women gain more financial clout, their spending patterns direct more money toward education, health and community.
At the NY Times today, beliefs correspondent Mark Oppenheimer reports on last week’s Council for Secular Humanism conference in Los Angeles. His article discusses the infighting within the movement. As […]
“Military outlays should reflect the threats facing America, not America’s economic wealth.” The National Interest says our military spending should be scaled back.
“In response to China’s dominance in rare-earths production, researchers are developing new materials that could either replace rare-earth minerals or decrease the need for them.”
The subject of buzz has generated a burst of scientific attention. When choosing products to buy, research demonstrates that we’re much less autonomous than we imagine.
“Raw chocolate—the unrefined fruit of the cacao tree, without added sugar, milk or vegetable fat—is nutritionally superior to even the highest quality dark chocolate.”
“Why do powerful people with so much to lose push so hard to squeeze out a little more gain for themselves?” Psychologists say power can make people blind to their own actions.
“The more ‘harmony’ is celebrated, the more chaos and antagonism there is in reality.” Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek says China is more unstable than we realize.
French technology may bring joy to the heart of many urban drivers: the city of Toulouse is testing a system that displays available parking spots on your mobile phone.
“The invasion of privacy—of others’ privacy but also our own, as we turn our lenses on ourselves in the quest for attention by any means—has been democratized.”
“Film has the potential to be a most beautiful art, but it has been debased by U.S. cinema, and by television.” British film director Ken Loach has a plan to save the movies.
Men and women make think similarly about sex: “New data is undermining the evidence that has long been proposed to support the eager males—choosy females paradigm.”
At the end of September, a federal court struck down an Ohio law forbidding companies from labeling dairy products as made from milk that is “rBGH free,” “rBST free,” or […]
On Thursday in Washington, several dozen futurists, military strategists, investors and journalists gathered to honor the inventors of futurism, Alvin and Heidi Toffler, and celebrate the 40th anniversary of Future […]
A thought occurred to me last night as I watched one of the BBC’s Diplomatic Correspondents, Mark Urban on the channel’s flagship current affairs programmes. Newsnight. And it was that […]
At least five major porn studios have shut down after an actor tested positive for HIV this week. In my latest story for Working In These Times, I report on […]
The word “slavery” has a very specific resonance for Americans. But slavery is a practice that has existed since the very first records of human history, and it continues to […]
Research indicates that unique among major news outlets, Fox News viewing is significantly related to belief in false rumors and misinformation, especially for conservative viewers predisposed to accept these claims. […]
We now have some more information (Note: pretty much all the information on this eruption is in French) – and more importantly, some great images – of the eruption that is ongoing […]
“Western robots are engineered to more explicitly express emotion, while those from Japan are generally as expressive as the masks worn by actors in traditional Japanese Noh plays.”
“Today’s artists — their students and heirs — have been curiously unable to rise to the challenge of their legacy. They seem crushed and confused by its iconoclasm and grandeur.”
“Steven Rattner talks to Foreign Policy about how he pulled Detroit back from the brink — and what lessons that success could have for Obama going forward. “
“Does our inner voice really aid self-control and help us resist temptation? New research suggests the answer is ‘yes.'”
“A new report reveals just how fast we are consuming the Earth’s resources – and the dire consequences.” By 2030 we will need the capacity of two Earths to absorb greenhouse gas.
“If book publishers want to see the next decade in any reasonable health, it’s absolutely imperative that they rethink their pricing strategies and business models right now.”
“True breakthroughs in understanding come not from following the rulebook, but from tracking down its contradictions.” The Guardian praises the paradoxical mind.
Research on almost a thousand mummies from ancient Egypt and South America found only a handful suffered from cancer when now it accounts for nearly one in three deaths.
“Judges and investigators need to be unflinching in their inquiries into the paperwork debacle and must hold the banks fully accountable.”