Culture & Religion

More than 200,000 children are hospitalized each year in the U.S. for playground-related injuries. What researchers want to know is how many of these disasters could be averted by parents putting down their smartphones?

In the 10 years since it went public, YouTube has been a hot topic for cultural critics and experts on innovation. We take a look at the site’s past and the promises for its future.

Amazon’s fledgling goat-grazing service is only in beta at the moment, but we think this idea’s got legs. Four of them, actually.

Self-critique is important for growth as long as you commit to being fair with yourself. Constant negative self-assessments lead to low self-esteem, which in turn lead to acts of self-sabotage.

According to Harvard Business Review’s Andrew O’Connell, research suggests consumers like to perceive gender in brands, and the brands themselves have taken notice.

More and more people are reaching old age unmarried and without kids. This cultural shift presents unique problems for medical professionals, especially since we may soon be facing an Alzheimer’s epidemic.

We like to think we perceive the world just as everyone else does. That’s what makes communication possible, and without a baseline reality, how would science proceed?

What do “Yesterday,” “Satisfaction,” “My Generation,” “The Sound of Silence,” “California Girls,” and “Like a Rolling Stone” all have in common? They were all hits in 1965, the year author Andrew Grant Jackson calls “the most revolutionary year in music.” In 1965: The Most Revolutionary Year in Music, Jackson weaves a fascinating narrative of how popular music and social change influenced one another to create a year memorable not only for great music, but also for great progress in American culture. In this whirlwind tour of multiple genres of music as well as multiple pressing political issues, Jackson states a compelling case for 1965 as a key turning point in American music and society as well as provides a mirror for how music and society interact today, 50 years later.

Forums and their members get a bad rap. It isn’t the outdated, troll-happy online cesspool you think it is. It’s a place to find community and support. You may even walk away feeling like a more productive member of society. 

Author Lily Tuck wrote last week in The New York Times that she hopes her readers read her work with imagination. Is it vital that good literature stokes the flames of imagination?

There is no direct evidence about what proceeds human consciousness, but there are stories from people who have been pronounced clinically dead.

The Second World War was a moral and societal nadir. The conflict’s incomparable horrors ensure its continued relevance in art, storytelling, and the general cultural zeitgeist.

While Americans are more likely to vote for a gay candidate than an atheist, there has been an uptick in the percentage of those who say that their presidential choice’s faith plays no role in their decision — about six out of 10 Americans currently take that view.

As Sesame Street Head Writer Joey Mazzarino notes, every parent should have a puppet. It’s important for moms and dads to be unafraid of sometimes being silly.

Philosopher Slavoj Žižek points out several hypocrisies of political correctness while addressing how contemporary totalitarians construct social boundaries to control the population.

Tolstoy is the sort of author that requires deep reading for full appreciation. If you don’t have the time for that, there’s always the War and Peace quick-read strategy.

The best way to become better divorced parents is to work together to redefine what it means to be a family.

Trying to sell an idea like immortality is probably as old as language itself. Like all heads at Google, Ray Kurzweil is selling an ideology, one that will eventually be capitalized upon by whoever holds the patent.

The intensity of sports rivalry is justified if it helps us develop morally praiseworthy attitudes that transfer from the sporting arena into real life.

It is very difficult and expensive for inmates to keep in touch with their loved ones. Yet, studies have consistently found that prisoners who maintain close contact with their family members while incarcerated have better post-release outcomes and lower recidivism rates. 

Your smartphone’s GPS capability could prove useful — perhaps even life-saving — in the moments before a major earthquake. 

Our fear of making incorrect choices too often prevents us from rationally assessing the decision-making process.

Challenging our assumptions is difficult. And when it comes to redistributing income, all sides tend to come to the table with pretty ingrained notions of what is fair or what is good.

Researchers have found that five-year-olds are not immune to the “bystander effect.” It turns out, in groups, the reason why kids don’t take to helping someone is because they don’t think it’s their responsibility. 

Biologist Edward O. Wilson explains how humans came to dominate all other large animals by adopting eusocial behaviors most often associated with insects.

It has become commonplace to see a “worm” based on the reactions of a tiny sample of audience members running across our screens during televised presidential debates. Psychologists tested whether the worm can influence our voting intentions and the results are worrying in the extreme.

We are living through another gilded age, but unlike the late 19th century, extremely high income inequality has failed to stoke popular fervor.

Architect (and Big Think expert) Marc Kushner argues our current age of architecture will be remembered for experimentation and technological influence.

The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program features classes comprised of both incarcerated and non-incarcerated students. It is offered at over 100 universities.

A participatory budgeting system in which neighborhood residents vote on projects is getting a trial run in America’s largest city.