Guest Thinkers

MSNBC’s Morning Joe is among the best of cable news options.  The program’s analysis and discussion offers cross-talk from a diversity of political thinkers and sharp analysis, packaged with rock […]

Since the past four have been so successful [last year we had 114 posts!], I am putting out a call for people to participate in Leadership Day 2011. To paraphrase what I […]

Forcing President Obama to focus on the debt ceiling issue night after night for weeks on end has changed him for the better. Unfortunately for congressional Republicans, this manufactured fiscal […]

One of the most striking facts about the recent Oslo massacre and bombing by an extremist 32-year-old Norwegian was the sheer amount of pre-meditation that went into the grisly act. […]

I served on a panel, Education in a Digital World, at the Iowa Education Summit today. Here is what I said during my 5 minutes of opening remarks. Good afternoon, We have to […]

Does this picture of a harmless lotus pod give you the howling fantods? I’ll admit, it squicks me a little. Jennifer Abbasi reports on the Popular Science blog that there’s […]

No journalist worth his or her salt should rejoice in the downfall of another. There are plenty of commentators in particular that I could name who infuriate me, who have […]

13-year-old Google is going through a patch of mid-life anxiety. With upstarts like Facebook nipping at its heels, the company is shaking things up in an effort to stay ahead of the game.   

Funny thing about fear. By the time you feel it, your body is already quite busy keeping you safe.

Major scientific endeavors like space exploration require decades of planning and funding sources that can weather economic downturns. Will the results of the Google Lunar X Prize competition stand that assumption on its head?

They live in a parallel society, a world apart, where they obey an alien law and pray to an alien God. Their liberal allies foolishly promote toleration and claim these […]

The MLS All-Star game tonight pits league All-Stars against Manchester United.  Game time is 830pm EST on ESPN with Thierry Henry and David Beckham suiting up for the MLS side.  […]

Joseph Heller’s Catch-22turns fifty this year, and like its hero Yossarian, it seems destined to survive for the long haul. It’s the best kind of literary paradox: a classic that […]

Thierry Henry leads MLS in scoring but close behind is young American forward Brek Shea who bests Henry for goal of the week with a half-field steal of the ball […]

The Link TV network — along with PBS — is one of only two non-profit networks you will find on cable TV.  Caty Chattoo, a faculty colleague in the School […]

Today’s lesson from Sherlock Holmes deals with learning to cull and to cultivate knowledge in such a way that your decision process will be optimized for the question at hand, […]

Marching through the Met a few weeks ago, my family found ourselves suddenly in a room full of works by Francis Bacon, Frank Auerbach, and Lucian Freud. I motioned to […]

A frame device is a catchphrase that instantly conveys a specific meaning and storyline, sparking conversations and trains of thought about why an event might be a problem, who or […]

Like me, many readers were probably saddened by the news last week that Borders is shutting all of its remaining outlets.  In comparison to Barnes Noble, I often found Borders […]

If you are a fan of Big Think, the newly re-launched Science and Entertainment Exchange website will offer you hours of interesting reading and viewing.  A program of the National […]

I wrote severalarticles about memorization on this blog already and last week I learned about a new scientific study that proves once more that the use of the Internet can […]

We like to think the traits that make life sweet are those that make it long. But a recent long-term study of longevity over decades suggests that’s not so. 

Click here to read the Ukrainian language version of this article. Many scientists believe that a rock about 6 miles across plowed into Mexico 65 million years ago, killing the […]

Through the launch of his 20 Under 20 Fellowship initiative, billionaire entrepreneur and hedge funder Peter Thiel is engaging in one of the most radical experiments yet about the future […]

Carlo Maria Broschi, better known as Farinelli, was one of the most celebrated opera singers of all time, and the 18th century equivalent of a rock star (“One God and […]

An authoritative study shows that the Republicans have recovered from their 2006-08 swoon and have now moved even with the Democrats again.  That doesn’t mean they have moved ahead.  Party identification […]

The adrenaline rush we all experience when our bodies go in to “fight or flight” mode is an asset if we’re up against a physical threat. But in every day life, how do you overcome fear?

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, especially in the arts. Paint, sculpt, or build it right and others will try to follow your path. That truth makes Frank Lloyd […]

I’ve been trying to draft the Boss for years. Finally, a survey by Policy Policy Polling shows that New Jerseyans are as likely to support Bruce Springsteen for governor (42%) […]

Most people know that Emily Dickinson was a great poet, but it takes a deep plunge into her collected poems to realize just how staggeringly great she was. Usually represented […]