Search Results

You’d think divorce lawyers would be making a killing over something like this. Apparently not.

The more out of control a couple’s wedding budget grows, the shorter their marriage will tend to last, according to a new study by two Emory University economics professors. 

Checking your email too often could be stressing you out, even if you don’t feel like your inbox plays a significant role in your wellbeing.

Different people have very different dreams, but even across widely different cultures, the subjects we dream about are remarkably similar—and mostly very disturbing.

You may not be aware of it, but certain judgment calls by you or your managers may be holding some of your best people back. In this lesson, management expert Jennifer Brown, a diversity training consultant who works with leading companies, explains the pitfalls and strategies for dealing with unconscious bias.

Over a 22-year career at Goldman Sachs, Robert S. Kaplan had the opportunity to run various businesses and to work with or coach numerous business leaders. He says that successful leadership is less often about having all the answers—and more often about asking the right questions. In Part 1 of The Leadership Challenge, Kaplan explores three strategic key questions that leaders need to ask themselves.

Psychologists and behavioral therapists have begun integrating cooking into their treatment strategies, extending the benefits of meal preparation far beyond satisfying hunger.

As Malcolm Gladwell – author of numerous New York Times bestselling books – points out, mastery and popularity are sometimes linked, but often they are not. If your goal is to become masterful at what you do, the formula is really quite simple: stay focused and do your time. This is the theory behind the 10,000 Hours Rule that Gladwell made famous. Worrying about whether you’re being recognized for your efforts, i.e. popularity, is a product of the ego, not to mention a distraction. . . . So get over yourself and get to work! In this lesson, Gladwell teaches you how.

Is “nudge theory” Big Brother running our lives, or just the medicine we need? 

When eating a vegan, sugar-free, gluten-free diet becomes a lifestyle, the medicinal benefits may outpace those offered by strong prescription painkillers.

The greatest difference in opinion over abortion rights exists between women at opposite ends of the political spectrum, not between men and women as is often supposed in popular culture. 

Businesses that make their employees feel young for their age get more out of their workforce.

With three spatial dimensions, the possibilities are tremendous. But only one answer fits what we see. “Never erase your past. It shapes who you are today and will help you […]

Theoretical physicist, best-selling author, and all around cool guy Michio Kaku returns to Big Think to discuss the science of dreaming, as well as everything Freud got right about our subconscious.

Today’s the 78th anniversary of the bombing of Guernica. The only reason you probably don’t know that already is because this isn’t the event’s 75th or 100th anniversary, because we as a society value some numbers over others. 

Living on the moon may be a far reach — chances are any lunar colony would be located inside the moon.

There were two periods of exponential expansion in the Universe: one today and one long ago. Are they related? “What is wild cannot be bought or sold, borrowed or copied. […]

Engineers at the University of Montana are working to mitigate the impact of roads on wildlife by building overpasses and underpasses that give animals the right of way.

The first human colonies might not be on the surface of Mars, but amidst the clouds of Venus. “I remember as a kid having a balloon and accidentally letting the […]

The first woman to head a major North American pro sports union has made several major splashes in her first seven months on the job while exuding confidence every step of the way.

Global belief in a higher power is down nine percent since 2005 to an all-time low of sixty-eight percent, according to a Gallup poll which surveyed people from fifty seven countries all over the world.

Hide this study from your parents. Recent research suggests that the connection between video games and enhancing cognitive abilities is “weak to nonexistent.”

Former NATO head Anders Fogh Rasmussen comments on the consequences of climate change in the Arctic and why geopolitical tensions are growing in the region.

The hope that humans can use wisdom and technology to prevent a bleak future for life on Earth is overly optimistic. It falsely presumes that we can use wisdom to overcome instincts.

“It’s important to remember that Holmes wasn’t born Holmes. Holmes was born like you and me but probably with greater potential for certain elements of observation, but he learned over time to think like Sherlock Holmes.” -Author Maria Konnikova, from her Big Think Interview

In this Masterclass series, leadership consultant Jennifer Brown offers concrete strategies for turning diverse talent networks into business innovation pipelines. This two-minute excerpt from Lesson 1 previews Brown’s diversity training overview for leadership and management.

The “Kindness Diaries” author recounts an inspirational story of generosity that changed his life.

Henry Rollins dished on the power and limitations of music in his Big Think interview: “Is music a viable force for change?  Can music stop things, start things, change things?  To a certain degree yes, maybe in pop culture, but if a song or an artist could stop a war Bob Dylan and Bob Marley would have.”

What would you do? Imagine you’re a politically conservative, devoutly religious art dealer fleeing your war-torn country when you suddenly see art radically unlike anything you’ve seen before. Do you stay the course or gamble on this next “big thing”? Now add the sudden death of your pregnant young wife, which leaves you with five children under the age of nine whose futures now depend entirely on your choices. Do you roll the dice with your life and theirs? If you’re Paul Durand-Ruel and that artist is Claude Monet, the original Impressionist, you don’t just make that bet; you go “all in” — staking your family’s fortunes to those of a family of revolutionary artists. The exhibition Discovering the Impressionists: Paul Durand-Ruel and the New Painting, currently at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, goes “all in” with Durand-Ruel’s gamble and pays off big with a stirring tale of personal courage and art history in the making.

Why aren’t more women attaining senior leadership positions across corporate America? In this lesson excerpt, Jody Greenstone Miller explains why the time commitment traditionally required to attain top level positions prevents many women (and some men) from bringing their talents to the workforce. The full clip, available on Big Think+, teaches you how to create new paths to leadership by rethinking time so that the faces and values at the top of your organization more accurately reflect the diversity of the available talent pool.