Solstice might just be my new favourite (non-)holiday. As the sun peaks its highest excursion relative to the celestial equator, we experience the longest day and the shortest night. This […]
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UPDATE 5/26/14: I wrote this post before Elliot Rodger’s killing spree. The study I describe is, strictly speaking, about rape, but its notion of a connection between male shame and […]
Producing capable candidates for the increasing number of STEM positions means getting children interested in those subjects while they’re young. For the children’s publishing company Cascade Pass, it also means inspiring children who, even in their imaginative early years, may harbor doubts about their opportunities.
If you thought “planets move about the sun in ellipses,” wait until you read this. “I much prefer the sharpest criticism of a single intelligent man to the thoughtless approval of […]
A few thoughts on your lazy brain. But just a few because, well, you know, the brain likes things nice and easy. The brain normally operates on what […]
And is there a limit to how small they can possibly be? “They had discovered one could grow as hungry for light as for food.”-Stephen King When you turn your gaze […]
If there was an award for the single greatest hub of pseudoscience on the internet, the website Natural News would well and truly take the crown tin foil hat. Expect […]
It’s been 13.8 billion years since the Big Bang, but our observable Universe is much bigger than just 13.8 billion light years! Image credit: NASA; ESA; G. Illingworth, D. Magee, […]
Why quantum entanglement spooked Einstein his entire life. Image credit: Nature, October 2006 (vol 2 no 10). ‘Tis the season of ghouls, goblins, witches, demons, and things that go bump […]
A dark period from the past of psychiatry risks being forgotten, we can’t allow that to happen.
With a planetary nebula, over 80,000 stars and a distance of only 10,000 light-years, it’s one of the most rewarding globulars of all! Image credit: R. Columbari, via http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?t=31833. “I […]
Some scientists believe that humanity’s best shot at colonizing other planets lies in working within existing physics using organisms — in this case, bacteria encoded with human DNA — that can survive the trip.
There are many reasons and good approaches, but this advice applies to everyone. “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”-Maya Angelou Each one of us […]
A new Gallup poll shows that Americans’ confidence in print and television news is at an all-time low. Losing the hearts and minds of the American people also means losing influence over the collective societal zeitgeist.
How glassworker Loren Stump’s artwork is pushing the boundaries of the artform into uncharted waters. “I guess I just prefer to see the dark side of things. The glass is […]
We’ve learned more about comets than ever before thanks to it. But we would’ve learned a lot more, if not for one unfounded fear. “Every dreamer knows that it is […]
The marketplace of ideas would be a lot stodgier and less fluid—and more dangerously larded with lies—if it weren’t for humor. As Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert show night after […]
Newly designated World Heritage sites in France, Botswana, and the United States push UNESCO’s list into the quadruple digits.
Deceive your eyes with this amazing art technique that makes 2-D drawings come alive! “The contemporaries and rivals of Zeuxis were Timanthes, Androcydes, Eupompus, and Parrhasius. This last, it is said, […]
The East Japan Railway Company hasn’t forgotten customer service. Foot baths and sake are an available courtesy to customers traveling on their new bullet train two-hour service between Shinjo and […]
New polling data out of Gallup has found that attending an elite university doesn’t result in a happier or more productive graduate.
Are we becoming too obsessed with the idea that people can’t think straight? When I began blogging here at BigThink five years ago, I would have said no. After all, […]
What happens when honey bees feed on M&Ms? “My therapist told me the way to achieve true inner peace is to finish what I start. So far today, I have finished […]
A version of the Hollywood Sci-Fi Museum could debut as soon as 2015.
The concept of wearable computing is undeniably compelling. I myself have been totally seduced by the promise that these strap-on computers can and will lead us toward a better and […]
You’ve got to see what happens when this man realizes he’s talking to the living legend herself. Image credit: GayCalgary Magazine, via http://www.gaycalgary.com/Magazine.aspx?id=109&article=3182. “I’m just thankful that I’m still here. […]
What’s a good scientist to do when your theory predicts something absurd? “He who loves practice without theory is like the sailor who boards ship without a rudder and compass […]
Maybe so, but everything depends on what your faith is grounded on. Begin by recalling the thought experiment English theologian William Paley proposed in 1802: while traipsing across a field, […]
“It’s funny. All you have to do is say something nobody understands and they’ll do practically anything you want them to.” ― J.D. Salinger
An Idaho School Board is considering a new social media policy that forbids teachers from friending, following, or posting about students and their parents. The policy change stems from an incident involving a high school basketball teacher who was fired over a controversial photo.