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The new experimental “brain chips” developed by researchers at IBM and DARPA represent a fundamental breakthrough in computing power. If these brain chips are ever commercialized, they would make possible what are essentially thinking, artificial brains. 

BY JASON SILVA Physicist Freeman Dyson has spoken of a new “Age of Wonder” centered on computers and biology.  He has artfully articulated that in the near future “a new […]

BY JASON SILVA “We are enraptured prose-beings raised to the highest power”. – Walter Benjamin, On Hashish Timothy Leary and Buckminster Fuller called themselves “performing philosophers”, using the power of […]

I ask the above question at least halfway in earnest, and also as an excuse to write about Mad Men. (The season premiere has been delayed by contract disputes, so […]

You know that I am a huge fan of technology that merges the real world with enhanced information layers like QR codes and Augmented Reality. The third technology worth mentioning […]

In a previous post, Teddy Zareva wrote about a biodegradable urn made by the Spanish designer Martin Azua that turns you into a tree when you die. Big Think readers […]

I can’t lie. Every polysyllabic word like “maximalist” that President Obama uttered on his Ground Force One tour this week grated on my nerves. And yet, despite using the type […]

Former Apple evangelist Guy Kawasaki says swearing in the business setting is alright “once or twice a year.” But don’t do it more often than that, because “pain in the asses do not advance.”

There are hundreds of intelligent things that computers are doing that are part of our everyday lives that used to require human intelligence.

A new microchip made by researchers at I.B.M. is a landmark. Unlike an ordinary chip, it mimics the functioning of a biological brain, which could open new possibilities in computation.

So here’s some more on THE HELP. My first post dealt with the film’s display of the middle-class racist tyranny, mainly of women, in Jackson, Mississippi in1963. My opinion is […]

Now that my rage over losing the post yesterday afternoon has subsided, it’s time for me to try to recreate it (but that lost post was most definitely the best […]

As the manufacturing industry left American metropolises for the east, our cities became something even greater: idea factories. Cities are the engines of innovation and they are growing. 

Yesterday, Republican politician, conservative advocate and definitely not-a-witch Christine O’Donnell “walked out” on an interview with CNN’s Piers Morgan. She was there to promote her new book, Troublemaker, when she […]

If glaciologists and engineers can somehow harness flotillas of icebergs at the frozen corners of the Earth, it may signal hope for the throngs of thirsty people around the world. 

New and less invasive technologies are helping to harness the power of the tides in Eastport, Maine, next to the Bay of Fundy which has the highest tides in the world. 

By changing how light refracts off on object, new cloaking materials can hide tiny microphones placed on a wall—and they will do the job at all visible wavelengths.

The recent controversy in Manila over local artist Mideo Cruz’s Kulo exhibition raises the question of how far an artist can go in terms of religious art in a religious […]

It’s not the technical challenge posed by dealing with an asteroid collision with Earth but the social and political issues that most trouble us. Inevitably, an Earth-shaking rock will hit again.

Over the coming months, I will be blogging regularly on the topic of polarization, highlighting research and trends on the nature, causes, and possible solutions to the nation’s political paralysis.  […]

A Russian company has revealed plans for a space hotel. It will cost $785,000 for two days on a Soyuz rocket to it and a 5-day stay will rack about up about $157,000.

OMG. I better tweet this. Or post it on Facebook. Or click that oh-so-tempting like button. Maybe tumblr? Stumbleupon? Some other sharing service that I’m too slow to have noted, […]

Britain’s Opposition leader, Ed Miliband has emerged from two national crises with flying colours. He may have been a little late coming to the first – the Murdoch hacking scandal – but […]

The Sidney Hillman Foundation announced Tuesday that Tom Gogola has won the August Sidney Award for excellence in socially conscious journalism for his story, “Bycatch 22: As a twisted consequence […]

Harvard University product Mike Fucito scored two clinical goals last night for the Seattle Sounders in their 4-1 victory over CONCACAF Champions League opponent Comunicaciones of Gautamela.  Fucito was a […]

Yesterday, TIME named Big Think 2011’s top News & Information website! [Photo credit: Lindsay Beyerstein, all rights reserved.]

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal suggests that technology and, more specifically, time spent online might actually be helping people be friendlier, more empathetic, and in general, just […]

King Farm in Rockville, Md., could be an example of ‘new urbanism’ and ‘smart growth’ but instead locals are opposing one of the key elements—a central shuttle train.

Word is China’s first full-fledged space station could launch this month. Is it part of a bid to become a world strategic power or a modest increment in space prowess without military meaning?  

The “democratization” of space, including more involvement of amateur astronomers, is underway thanks to a ballooning and publicly accessible global astronomical database.