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New companies are creating sophisticated digital backups of individuals that can, in some sense, make one immortal, even if copying consciousness remains beyond current technology.
When the Arno River overflowed in 1966 and flooded Florence, Italy, an art apocalypse nearly took place in that grand Renaissance city. Countless works, including Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Doors of Paradise,Donatello’s […]
Every year, The Buckminster Fuller Challenge awards a $100,000 prize to a project that has the potential to solve humanity's most pressing problems and significantly improve human quality of life. The […]
Would days spent reading Proust make us more attentive? The Times cover story today implies, Yes. New research argues against the opposing onslaught: video games, iPods; inevitable, en masse drift […]
Green pre-fab is getting a lot of attention right now in New York City. Hop downtown to the Financial District, and you’ll notice, amidst the suits and skyscrapers, a peculiar […]
Pianist Hilda Huang, 14, visited Big Think today to tell us about her love of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. In March she became the youngest person ever to […]
When Jill Tarter was growing up, she remembers walking along the beach with her father, gazing up at the night sky. Well before she would become a leader in the […]
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From the Yale Whiffenpoofs to the Internet, Jonathan Coulton reflects on his career, including his breakout song about a sad software developer.
42mins
A conversation with the singer/songwriter and Internet sensation.
4mins
What makes the famous skeptic feel awe? Great magic tricks, of course. And sunsets.
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As a teenager in the '40s, James Randi "would have gotten stoned" for being gay. But when he outed himself to the world in 2010, the reaction was "wonderful."
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Hi, Mom?...Yeah, I’m in a coffin at the bottom of the La Hogue River."
3mins
The James Randi Educational Foundation has never met a “psychic” it couldn’t discredit—easily. Still, Randi understands why such frauds appeal to people.
6mins
What prompted the skeptic’s public crusades against Uri Geller, Sylvia Browne, and other self-proclaimed mystics?
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Real magicians don’t pretend to be mystical characters. By telling us they’re just performing tricks, they make their feats all the more breathtaking.
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What does it take to outperform the master escape artist? Common sense, a good night’s sleep, and shallow breathing.
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Conjurers perform skillful tricks, not miracles. But when the magician first saw one of his idols perform, he wasn’t sure whether he was seeing "a demon or an angel."
34mins
A conversation with the magician and scientific skeptic.
A 22-year-old U.S. intelligence analyst has been arrested for allegedly giving classified combat footage of a U.S. helicopter crew killing civilians to Wikileaks, an online repository of leaked documents. The […]