In the writings of Thomas Hobbes, the great 17th-century political theorist, we find a keen analysis of the danger ISIS poses to civilized life in the 21st century.
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The creator of television shows such as Scandal and Grey’s Anatomy told Dartmouth graduates on Sunday to fight for causes with action, not hashtags. Her attack on Twitter (in)activism has been lauded by some, panned by others.
With all the matter-and-energy so close together and so dense at the moment of the Big Bang, why didn’t it recollapse? Image credit: Mark A. Garlick / University of Warwick. […]
Nothing in nature works quite like money. Or seems as complex as an economy. I’d welcome counterexamples, but something seems fishy. 1. Here’s the usual big picture: Competitive markets allocate […]
Recently a good friend told me over a pint in our local pub that he hadn’t been able to sleep a wink for two nights. He’d been left traumatised by […]
This week the Federal Election Commission gave permission for political action committees to accept the cryptocurrency. They can also purchase Bitcoin with existing funds, but they can’t use it to buy goods or services.
The only way out is to modify the laws of gravity, and new constraints rule those modifications out. “The discrepancy between what was expected and what has been observed has […]
We observe our Universe as it is today: 13.8 billion years old and full of galaxies. What would we see 100 billion years from now? “It is always wise to look […]
A recent study published in Psychology of Women Quarterly reveals that most women are disgusted by the thought of female body hair or the thought of themselves not shaving. The stigma of female body hair no doubt stems from societal pressure, but perhaps there’s a scientific explanation as well.
It’s all relative, but what you might have seen probably isn’t accurate. “There is no such thing as perpetual tranquillity of mind while we live here; because life itself is […]
Harvard scientists have created a bioplastic using silk protein and a commonly-found organic substance that gives the shells their strength. The substance, shrilk, biodegrades in a matter of weeks, and its residue encourages plant growth.
There are a lot of great things about being single and living on your own for the first time — I moved to my first “real” apartment in February after […]
Cuddly toys, ripped to pieces. Their limbs and tails, snouts and eyepatches strung up and nailed to a museum wall. Teddy bears and their furry friends are supposed to be […]
When it comes to overall well-being, a new survey reports that regardless of whether it’s public or private, elite or obscure, the type of institution isn’t nearly as important as certain other factors, such as engaging professors.
The common definition of risk is ‘the probability of an adverse outcome or event’…in other words, the chance of something bad happening; losing your life, your health, your home, […]
Allowing arts organizations to die so others can sprout in their place isn’t heartless or misguided, it’s just the circle of life. Devon Smith at Medium.com argues that the process of propping up failing organizations gets in the way of progress.
In this 5-part Big Think Mentor workshop, Julia Galef, President of the Center for Applied Rationality, teaches how to better understand some of the most common cognitive biases and fallacies – and ultimately make better decisions.
Facebook recently announced that it will display warnings beside satirical content. In this post we look at the flaws and implications of recent research on the spread of false information on Facebook.
How the demons and angels of our greatest minds advanced science. Image credit: Luis Royo Fantasy Art, via Photobucket user mikenolan78. When most people think of Einstein, they think of […]
Plus a bonus: perhaps the single most important achievement to all of humanity. “What was most significant about the lunar voyage was not that men set foot on the Moon, […]
YOU wish they’d teach you this at school -they won’t necessarily. The United States, according to many foreign policy analysts, including critical voices such as famed Noam Chomsky (aka: “The […]
And the undeniable physics of how fusion actually works. Image credit: The FIRE Place, via http://fire.pppl.gov/. “Between cold fusion and respectable science there is virtually no communication at all. …because the […]
Out with “Dad Jeans” and in with cargo pants: that’s what Smokey the Bear and Ronald McDonald recently decided to do. Their wardrobes aren’t the only thing the 70 year-old […]
As Stephen Hawking warned, we better move from Earth or face extinction. Where should we go shopping? Hank Green, the host of the SciShow, acts as our real-estate agent of […]
NEW YORK – The horrific Ebola epidemic in at least four West African countries (Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria) demands not only an emergency response to halt the outbreak; […]
Understanding how to digitally communicate is an undeniably essential tool. There’s no opting out. So much of how we connect today, in our business and personal lives, even our dating, […]
Former United States Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner explains the recipe for financial disaster and the importance of remembering prior crises. Geithner is the author of Stress Test: Reflections on Financial Crises (http://goo.gl/v0R9pg).
The last serious anti-Big Bang scientists went to their graves lamenting the lack of good alternatives. Here why there are none. Image credit: NASA / WMAP Science Team. “We were […]
From simple physics to amazing feats “I call it like the domino theory of reality. If you can go one step at a time and it seems to make sense, you […]
Gurbaksh Chahal: At 16, the first person I hired was my older brother. I knew I could trust him implicitly and he’d already been my confidante and helper.