Laurie Vazquez
Contributing Writer
Laurie writes about science and technology for Popular Science, TIME, and FiatPhysica. Her passion is figuring out how things work and explaining them in plain English. She is always on the hunt to find and share the coolest ideas out there, and is excited to do that for BigThink. When she's not doing that, you’ll probably find her playing video games, her viola, or writing science fiction radio plays for KSVR’s Radio Theater Project. You can also find her on Twitter @mslauriewrites.
The question isn’t, “Are you a narcissist?” — it’s “Which type are you?”
Researchers at UCLA have found Grim Reaper DNA in 5% of the population. But there is a bright side – lifestyle choices go a long way in overriding a shorter genetic life expectancy.
Elon Musk has a pretty ambitious plan to get humans to live on Mars in 40 years. Here’s the tech that’ll make that happen.
According to Elon Musk, it’ll only take between 40 and 100 years to achieve a fully self-sustaining civilization on Mars. Here’s how.
Swiping a bank card and Venmo-ing your friends has made money more abstract than ever – and therefore so much easier to thoughtlessly spend. A proposed new tech device would make cash-free purchases tactile again.
The chicken you eat comes from birds that only live for 5 years and are susceptible to disease and inbreeding. Thank goodness Koen Vanmechelen bred a better one.
Job automation won’t be as bad as we think, so we need to learn how to stop working and prepare so we’re not dragged into the future kicking and screaming.
There’s more to intuition than meets the eye.
A new study reveals that people naturally fall into 4 different personality types while making decisions: Optimist, Pessimist, Trusting, or Envious.
Female political aides in the White House have banded together and are using a combo-technique of amplification and ‘shine theory’ to make sure their voices are counted.
1 in 10 people in Acciaroli, Italy are over 100 years old. Their secret to longevity? Their biology, diet, and the high-levels of friskiness among the elderly.
Believe it or not, life for the vast majority of Americans has improved under President Obama. From health and wellbeing to economic stability and quality of life, Americans are living […]
Don’t believe every science study you read, because sometimes not even their authors believe them. Here are the issues corrupting good, honest science – and how to fix them.
Natural disasters claim many more victims than terrorism, so why is funding in Europe and North America so out of balance? This negligence makes Neil deGrasse Tyson “embarrassed for our species”.
Genius kids are caught in the Goldilocks oatmeal paradox – if there’s too much heat on extracting their ability they suffer, but keep too cool a distance and they’ll be wasted.
1 in 3 people over the age of 65 live alone in the United States, and by age 85 it’s 1 in 2. Loneliness is an epidemic. Here’s how to fight it.
Mother Teresa will be canonized this Sunday, September 4th. What does it take to become a saint, and is the Vatican mistaken to not address Mother Teresa’s flaws?
Want five or six extra days every year? Easy – choose streaming over network TV. Adults are sacrificing 130 hours, and kids 150 hours, to ads annually when they watch commercial programming.
Look who went and got himself a talk show. Big Think’s regular contributor Bill Nye will be on Netflix in 2017!
Rumors of a terrorist gunman escalated at LAX. A panicked crowd trampled an old woman, snapping her femur. In our best Dick Cheney voice: “If you allow blind fear to disrupt society, the terrorists have already won.”
Seattle has a new plan to reduce HIV, drug overdoses, and stray needles: it wants to let addicts shoot heroin and smoke crack legally in monitored spaces.
According to letter sent to income college freshmen, the University of Chicago will not use trigger warnings or act as a safe intellectual space for students.
An intriguing new study inspires a psychotherapist to blame strict parents for creating little liars. But is she right?
Is virtual reality the future of gaming? They might be, if controllers like this are anything to go by.
Move over, cigarettes: ramen is the new king of prison currency. A new study for the American Sociological Association found that inmates are using the cheap food as currency.
This is a cyborg stingray. It’s as big as a penny, guided by a laser, and moves on its own when exposed to blue light. And it’s the brainchild of Kevin Kit Parker.
NYC health officials estimate that fine particulate matter, often inhaled while biking or running in the city, contributes to nearly 2,000 premature deaths and more than 6,000 hospital visits per year.
The benefits of reading should not be understated, even when it comes to living a longer life. A new study finds that reading books in particular returns cognitive gains that increase longevity.
Despite recent bad press, Tesla’s autopilot likely saved the life of a man who experienced a severe medical condition while driving. He asked his car to drive him to the nearest hospital.