The level of education a mother has at the time she gives birth is an accurate predictor of her child’s academic success, especially in the areas of math and reading, according to a new study.
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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 […]
Image credit: © 2015 MotorTrend Magazine, via http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/suvs/1110_mopar_underground_jeep_and_ram_run_wild_at_moab/photo_06.html. How gravity teaches us that the mountains we see extend far underground. “Journalists often ask me when I go to the field, […]
How one of the first tests of special relativity might lead to the greatest particle accelerator of all-time. “One feels that the past stays the way you left it, whereas […]
How “faith” in the Universe destroyed two brilliant men of genius. “I don’t like it, and I’m sorry I ever had anything to do with it.” –Schrödinger The idea that […]
The research linking fast food to obesity is well-known, but new studies show it may be impacting early brain development in children.
It’s what holds the nuclei in atoms together, overcoming electric repulsion. But how does it work? “I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say […]
How the show most likely isn’t sending home the right people every week. Image credit: NBC Universal / The Biggest Loser, Season 13 finale. “Our external environment no longer seems […]
Educators hold up scientists like Neil deGrasse Tyson and Marie Curie as heroes in order to encourage minorities to pursue studies in STEM fields. But portraying these figures as larger-than-life may intimidate students.
If somebody tells you the risk of something is “1 in a million” or “1 in ten thousand” or even “1 in ten”, you still don’t know nearly enough to gauge how big or small that risk actually is. Get more information before you decide how worried to be.
Maxims often beat maximization. Much in life isn’t quantifiable, much less numerically maximizable. It’s unwise to ignore that evolution fitted us for maxims, not math, to manage life’s complexities. 1. […]
Metaphors can be our shortest stories: their compact explanations often shape our view of the truth. But like stories taken out of context, badly mixed metaphors from biology and physics […]
In 2008, in exchange for the billions of dollars they needed to stay in business, General Motors and Chrysler agreed to accelerate deployment of more fuel efficient technologies in light […]
In his recent Big Think interview, Bill Nye proposed his version of an ideal core curriculum. Spoiler Alert: there’s science involved. As Bill explains, incorporating science and math into the […]
It’s not surprising that Albert Einstein was a good student, as the report card he received at the age of 17, posted by History Pics, shows. His best subject? Math.
Plato recently tweeted his 10 biggest mistakes (channeled via Rebecca Goldstein author of Plato at the Googleplex). Two mistakes concern mathematics and an almost irrational faith in its powers: 1. […]
People in lab coats aren’t wizards, so why do we treat them as such? One writer argues that our botched understanding of science, and that we erroneously conflate it with truth, has led to myriad social problems.
It won’t solve everything, but there’s something we can all do to help sequester carbon. It’s as easy as planting a tree. “I believe that we are here for each […]
We have electric charges and fields, but only magnetic fields. Could there be magnetic charges in our Universe? “It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is […]
After previously discussing surveillance and autonomous cars, Singularity University’s Brad Templeton returns to Big Think to examine some lighter fare: quantum mechanics and computing.
Here’s how to put all of the wonders of the Universe at the tips of your fingers. Literally! “Once I knew only darkness and stillness… my life was without past […]
From pinpointing different brain regions to the treatment of neurological disorders, scientists have demonstrated that the brain is a highly plastic organ capable of learning new things well into the later stages of life.
What every middle-to-high schooler should know. Image credit: Bayside STEM academy, via Stanford at https://ed.stanford.edu/news/new-design-thinking-curriculum-targets-middle-school-students. “Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time […]
When IBM Chief Accessibility Officer Frances West sat down at a recent screening of “Gone Girl,” she immediately realized that something was wrong. In the opening credits, there were “names […]
Better models of our nature are needed. Freud’s ideas, though discredited by many, still haunt the arts, and exert influence within science. Three ideas buried in Steven Pinker’s book about declining violence can help.
For destruction, ice is also great, and will suffice. “Some say the world will end in fire,Some say in ice.From what I’ve tasted of desireI hold with those who favor […]
As the Hubble Space Telescope nears its 25th anniversary, it never stops amazing us. “That I learned even as a three year-old that I see this world that is really […]
The new prices are an experiment in stoking demand. If the cost of a single ride drops far enough, people may begin abandoning their cars for their daily commute or midday errand.
Technology innovator Stephen Wolfram argues that the universe may function less like a math equation and more like a computer program, demonstrating extremely complex behavior which could be based on relatively simple lines of natural code.