December 10, 2012

Big Ideas for December 10th

bigthinkeditor

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

Quote of the day:

“We have art in order not to die of the truth.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

Today’s Big Ideas:

The National Intelligence Council’s New Report, by Ali Wyne

The World WON’T End. And Neither Will Superstitions, by David Ropeik

Lessons from TED on the dangers of pseudoscience, by Neurobonkers

Would You Save This Man’s Life? The Bystander Effect Revisited, by Daniel Honan

The Moral Importance of Fiction and Literature, by Tauriq Moosa

What not to read today:

Kim Kardashian’s Cat Dies

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

Person examining a petri dish with tweezers, holding small colored objects, against a dark background.

Health

Are microplastics really destroying our health?

They’re in our brains, hearts, and blood — but what are they doing to us?

A statue of a thoughtful, seated philosopher on the right seems to be contemplating a calling, while a standing figure holding a lyre on the left adds harmony against the textured background.

Thinking

Everyday Philosophy: Can you have a “calling” without a caller?

If you’re an atheist with a vocation, who laid that path for you?

Close-up image of a human iris featuring vibrant blue and yellow hues with a dark pupil in the center.

The mystery at the heart of consciousness

“Is it possible that consciousness is a much more basic phenomenon in nature and is essentially pervading everything?”

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10 min

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with

Annaka Harris

Starts With A Bang

Ask Ethan: Does the CMB really “prove” the Big Bang?

Since the mid-1960s, the CMB has been identified with the Big Bang’s leftover glow. Could any alternative explanations still work?

A wasp illustration in blue on grid paper is overlaid on a close-up image of effervescent bubbles in a golden alcoholic liquid.

Health

The first known animal that’s “immune” to alcohol intoxication

Could studying the Oriental hornet lead to a treatment for people with alcohol use disorder?

Up Next

Politics & Current Affairs

Massive French Open-Air Protest Site Holds Fast

On Tuesday a judge will decide whether to authorize yet another round of evictions from a forest north of Nantes that is home to a growing number of international squatters protesting plans for a proposed airport.