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Increasingly, scientific research is being done in ways that seem to advocate the scientists’ point of view, more than to objectively and dispassionately represent “the facts.” Society is at risk when science is hijacked by advocacy-masquerading-as-objective-science, whether such distortion is done by researchers working for companies, governments, environmental groups, or just by scientists who allow their personal views to color the questions they ask and the way they describe and promote their findings.

The Week’s Ryan Cooper calls the 2014 midterms “perhaps the least consequential American election season in a generation,” but argues that’s not a reason to stay home.

One woman’s decision to end her life has a large segment of Americans rethinking their stances on assisted suicide.

How one person singlehandedly created a forest, saved an island, and changed the world. Image credit: Amarjyoti Borah, via Al Jazeera. “The trees are man’s best friends; but man has […]

Henry Rollins dished on the power and limitations of music in his Big Think interview: “Is music a viable force for change?  Can music stop things, start things, change things?  To a certain degree yes, maybe in pop culture, but if a song or an artist could stop a war Bob Dylan and Bob Marley would have.”

A new study finds that receiving gossip encourages people to better themselves, particularly if the juicy news is positive in nature.

Understanding the relationship that Abraham Lincoln had with the press, which was then limited entirely to newspapers, helps put our current obsession with the news media in historical context.

Sherman Alexie, author of the award-winning novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, on Young Adult fiction: “A lot of people have no idea that right now Y.A. is the Garden of Eden of literature… One person asked me, ‘Wouldn’t you have rather won the National Book Award for an adult, serious work?’ I thought I’d been condescended to as an Indian — that was nothing compared to the condescension for writing Y.A.”

Changing trends in how American undergrads choose their college major reflect broader social trends, argues Mark Shiffman, an associate professor of humanities at Villanova University. 

“You see what power is – holding someone else’s fear in your hand and showing it to them.” -Amy Tan, from her book The Kitchen God’s Wife (1991)

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nicholas Kristof recently visited Big Think to discuss his new book A Path Appears and talk about the tactics advocates must employ to raise awareness for a good cause.

Current technology is not far from ushering in a new paradigm of human learning, said Google’s vice-president of research Alfred Spector at a recent conference in New York.

Elon Musk, purveyor of electric cars and rocket ships, is a much more wary of artificial intelligence. “With artificial intelligence we are summoning the demon,” said the SpaceX CEO this week.

Environmentally friendly office space makes employees happier and more productive, according to a broad range of studies that have examined temperature, sunlight, and plants. 

When we see the future through rose-tinted lenses, we are less likely to take the action necessary to achieve our goals.

When you throw more fuel on the fire, why does it burn out in less time? Image credit: Wikimedia Commons user Fir0002. “The light that burns twice as bright burns […]

A new parking app in San Francisco allows users to forgo the misery of searching for a spot. Instead, drivers can reserve an on-demand valet who will wait at your destination.

Civil rights leader Mary McLeod Bethune on never giving in to discrimination:  “If we accept and acquiesce in the face of discrimination, we accept the responsibility ourselves and allow those responsible to salve their conscience by believing that they have our acceptance and concurrence. We should, therefore, protest openly everything… that smacks of discrimination or slander.”

A new study reveals how a state of active curiosity stimulates the brain’s memory and pleasure centers, thus explaining why it’s so much more effective to employ learning strategies that spark students’ interest.

You have to identify the causes of your procrastination in order to beat it. More often than not, ego and a fear of failure are at the root of the problem.

When interior decorating, remember that what you put on the walls and how you arrange them will have major effects on a room’s aura and feel.

A plastic pumpkin full of candy could hold up to 11,000 calories worth of sweets. While banning candy is out of the question, parents should limit their kids’ intake.

How the show most likely isn’t sending home the right people every week. Image credit: NBC Universal / The Biggest Loser, Season 13 finale. “Our external environment no longer seems […]

“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” -Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple

Listening to certain sounds while you sleep can help strengthen your abilities to learn a new language, memorize a piece of music, and recall events from the previous day.

Six years ago, in a mock presidential election held in my daughter’s pre-K class, Barack Obama was the clear winner. Of the 18 children, 16 voted for Obama. (“Superman” and […]

I’ve been thoroughly dismayed by Facebook the past couple of years. Maybe it’s a quirk of memory, but I don’t remember my feed being so full of political sparring and […]

Have you ever wondered whose job it was to eliminate gruesome content from your news feed? A terrific investigation over at Wired pulls back the curtain on this massive labor-driven endeavor.

Make no mistake: money can buy you happiness. The problem is that many high-salaried Americans overwork themselves to the point where no amount of cash could improve your mood.

Even an Iron Chef can fall into the trap of letting his kids eat junk food. His secret to selling his kids on nutrition is to present good foods in forms and textures they enjoy.