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Our always-on culture has us working harder, doing more, and sleeping less. While the health ailments of sleep deprivation are well known, a study by Rand Europe shows that it is costing the economy as well, with the U.S. estimated to lose up to $434 billion in 2020.

The West has been doing well scientifically for a few hundred years now, but it took almost a thousand years for it to catch up to the Middle East. Here are ten of the biggest discoveries the Islamic world got first.

It isn’t just for merging neutron stars, anymore. Over the past three years, there’s arguably been no greater scientific discovery than the direct detection of gravitational waves. The two LIGO […]

The widely beloved chef, writer and TV host Anthony Bourdain was found dead Friday morning at age 61. Here’s a brief look at the work and life that made him an international culinary star.

Bell Helicopter has just premiered its electric, self-piloting air taxi design at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. 

Using a machine-learning system known as a deep neural network, MIT researchers have created the first model that can identify a musical genre just like a human would.

Technology has grown by leaps and bounds over the last few generations. In the early 1960s, computer mainframes the size of semi-truck trailers that used transistors were considered cutting-edge because […]

Humanity’s greatest-ever view of the Big Bang’s leftover glow has just released their final analysis. Here’s what we’ve learned. It’s been more than 50 years since humanity discovered a uniform bath […]

The first detections were incredible. But now the real fun — and the real science — truly begins. On August 17, the signals from two merging neutron stars reached Earth after a journey of 130 […]

Who are the new black atheists and what is behind their recent growth?

A new study finds that narwhals race dive deep with their hearts barely beating as they escape humans.

Several investigations have looked into the Taos hum. One scientist believes he has the most likely culprit.

The Big Think+ team is thrilled to present 20 brand new videos! How does an astronaut bridge cultural divide? This month, take new perspectives on the interesting world we work […]

Did they perform their analysis sub-optimally? Maybe. But gravitational waves were seen no matter what. “We hope that interested people will repeat our calculations and will make up their own minds […]

You’ve heard that “perception is reality.” Well, it’s not. It might even be a hallucination.

Is “science broken” or self-correcting? And who is going to do the grown-up thing and fix the game (instead of scoring points within it)?

Infants can learn a lot about the world—if adults know the right ways to encourage them.

The scientists have traced the signals to just 180 million years after the Big Bang, making the detection the earliest evidence of hydrogen yet observed.

The smart money is still on LIGO, but there sure looks like something funny is happening if the new group is correct. This article was contributed by Sabine Hossenfelder. Sabine […]

Rather than one layer at a time, this method creates an entire object all at once, using lasers.

These findings may help us better understand how humans perceive our environment and make decisions based on sensory information.

Sure, we found the Higgs Boson at the LHC earlier this decade. But what else has, and more importantly, hasn’t turned up? It’s now just over five years since the two […]

A silent gif is sweeping the web because many people think they can hear it.

Music is our oldest and most cherished ritual. How we treat it is reflective of who we are. 

LISA, the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, will not only be the space-based successor to LIGO, but will predict black hole mergers up to years in advance. Across the Universe, innumerable masses […]

As more intellectuals seek a common ground between the left-right divide, these ten books offer insights on how to navigate challenging topics.

A new study investigates if pot smokers outperformed nonsmokers in creativity.

Turns out, organisms may be using quantum mechanics to gain evolutionary advantages.   

Why the 2017 Nobel Prize isn’t the end, but the start, of something really, really big. “Wormholes are a gravitational phenomena. Or imaginary gravitational phenomena, as the case may be.” –Jonathan […]

This research is helping scientists overcome a fundamental machine learning problem.