The Well What trauma does to your brain and body The ultimate definition of trauma, explained by leading psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk. ▸ 8 min — with Bessel van der Kolk
Hard Science Germany had 90 minutes to prepare for a beach ball-sized meteorite impact Meanwhile meteorite hunters rushed to Berlin to find this most rare space rock.
Starts With A Bang JWST’s new and improved exam of Uranus shines As Uranus approaches its solstice, its polar caps, rings, and moons come into their best focus ever under JWST’s watchful eye. See it now!
Health Psychedelics open a new window on the mechanisms of perception Psychedelics mess with our prior beliefs, and could help us see what forms these beliefs in the first place.
The Learning Curve Master your digital distractions (without a digital detox) Unplugging only ignores the hard work of overcoming your distractions.
Hard Science Iceland earthquakes hint at a new era of increased volcanic activity This new geologic activity could be part of a thousand-year cycle, ushering in a new era of volcanism on the island.
Strange Maps Dutch government releases a genuine treasure map from WWII, sparking a hunt for the loot X marks the spot. The Dutch town of Ommeren has been swamped by detectorists armed with shovels looking for $20-million treasure.
Starts With A Bang Why 2023’s Venus-Jupiter conjunction won’t be bettered until 2039 In our Solar System, even the two brightest planets frequently align in our skies. But only rarely is it spectacularly visible from Earth.
The Past What happened to the dream of the Pan-American highway? The Pan-American Highway began a century ago with a vision of unfettered motor-vehicle access between Alaska and Tierra del Fuego. What happened to the dream?
Business How hindsight might have saved Quibi from gold-plated debacle Quibi was so focused on foresight they forgot the basics of hindsight.
Health Apple has a secret project to help people with diabetes The Apple Watch could soon take the pain out of monitoring blood sugar levels.
L&D strategy On-the-job training: How to build an effective program for the future To gain its full value, L&D leaders must be open to challenging assumptions about how they approach on-the-job training.
The Future Bye, paper currencies: How blockchain and fintech will soon transform money Digital currencies are set to upend paper currencies, but it likely won’t be the decentralized utopia some hope it will be.
The Present “Alive and well”: Peter Singer on effective altruism after FTX “The movement is much bigger than Sam Bankman-Fried, or any one person, no matter how wealthy,” philosopher Peter Singer told Big Think.
Thinking Inside Mary’s Room: is a physical world all there is? A strange philosophical thought experiment forces us to ask if the world can be completely described in physical terms.
The Future Why we reject new ideas What Shark Tank pitches, Sundance films, and unusual sandwiches show us about our choices.
Neuropsych Can learning a foreign language prevent dementia? The evidence is far less clear than popular media might lead you to believe.
Thinking Why do we hesitate to say “I love you” to our friends? It’s time to bring “friendship love” back.
Hard Science How particle accelerators recreate the Universe’s first moments In the infant Universe, particle physics reigned supreme.
Starts With A Bang Relativity: the oldest physics principle that’s still correct The original principle of relativity, proposed by Galileo way back in the early 1600s, remains true in its unchanged form even today.
The Past Vesuvius Challenge: Can AI decipher these mysterious ancient scrolls? The volcano’s historic eruption preserved an ancient library, but rendered its content illegible. A public competition aims to change that.
Thinking Bushido: The Japanese samurai code for kamikaze pilots and businessmen According to bushido, your life is of secondary importance to key virtues, like honor, loyalty, and justice.
Hard Science Astronomical archaeologists get a peek of the first stars in the Universe Archaeologists can learn how societies lived by studying what they left behind when they died. Astronomers are doing much the same thing.
The Past The world’s most successful pirate was a Chinese woman She apparently learned some valuable business skills as a former prostitute.
The Future Scientists watch broken metal heal itself Time to rewrite our understanding of structural engineering.
Thinking The “Nietzsche Thesis”: Why we don’t really care about truth Your BS detector might not be as accurate as you think.
The Future Massive autonomous robot is 3 to 5 times faster than a human construction crew The robot can drive heavy steal beams into the ground at a rate of 1 per 73 seconds, which will help expedite solar farm construction.
The Learning Curve Memento mori: Why thinking about death enriches your life Executive coach Jodi Wellman explains how to “make it to the end with no regrets.”
High Culture Meet the 3rd bestselling poet in world history He is only out-sold by William Shakespeare and Lao Tzu.
Neuropsych The psychology of the psychic Thinking of a number between one and ten? Here’s how predictable human responses create the illusion of telepathy.