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The first QD televisions–like current flat-screen TVs, but with better color and ultra-thin displays–will be available in shops by the end of next year. And later, the roll-up version.

If you’re a parent and you want to introduce your child to art, it’s sometimes hard to find that perfect combination of optimism and imagination in a single artist. Too […]

In each generation, our most brilliant thinkers lay the foundations on which lesser lights will build a new, bloated bureaucracy of the mind. Can experimental philosopher Jonathon Keats help us break the cycle? 

What’s the Big Idea? “Your Gravity Theory Sucks!” Margaret Wertheim was surprised to find this comment on an order form for a self-published book called The Other Theory of Physics, […]

From all of us here at Big Think, Happy 70th birthday, Stephen! If you had only been one of the smartest humans ever, it would have been enough – but you’re something much bigger than that: a model of how to live.

–Guest post by Declan Fahy, AoE’s Science and Culture correspondent. Writer David Milch, a creator of NYPD Blue and Deadwood, was quoted in a talk by author Michael Crichton as […]

What is the link between innovation and the science fiction imaginary?

No, not outer space. The very space in which everything exists is still poorly understood by physicists. Since Einstein, we have known space has a structure but not how it functions.

I may have mentioned that, at Skepticon IV, JT Eberhard gave a fantastic talk on why the skeptical community must concern itself with mental illness. For the most part, the […]

One of the most exciting ideas in modern physics, that gravity is not a traditional force but an emergent one, was dealt a blow based on how the force works at the quantum level. 

Ever since scientists in Germany announced last year the ability to create a small-scale cloak of invisibility for a 3D object the size of a human hair, there has been […]

Guest post by Samantha Eliza Benten The Law of Non-Contradiction, as stated by Aristotle: “One cannot say of something that it is and that it is not in the same […]

Discoveries in recent years suggest that nature knows a few tricks that physicists don’t: Coherent quantum processes may well be ubiquitous in the natural world.

The Italian Renaissance remains one of those amazing hinges of human history where civilization made a great leap that continues to be felt today. For German art historian Hans Belting, […]

In a bid to enable computers to learn faster, defense company Lockheed Martin has bought a system that uses quantum mechanics to process digital data. At $10 million, it is the first sale of its kind. 

Why does anything exist at all? The idea that the universe simply appeared out of nothing is difficult enough; trying to conceive of nothingness is perhaps even harder.

Great Big Ideas, the first Floating University course, features twelve of the most important thinkers and practitioners in their fields. These lecturers are constantly making news, and in this blog, […]

What constraints govern the physical process of computing? Is a minimum amount of energy required per logic step? There seems to be no minimum, but some other questions are open.

One of the strangest theories to come out of theoretical physics is that the universe is a projection of a two-dimensional shell. New evidence suggests this hologram theory is false.

Caltech professor Sean Carroll: “If you claim that some form of soul persists beyond death, what particles is that soul made of? What forces are holding it together? How does it interact with ordinary matter?”

Some have proposed using quantum entanglement (the invisible umbilical cord that exists between objects) as a form of telepathy. But there are much more practical ways of achieving telepathy that […]

Some have proposed using quantum entanglement (the invisible umbilical cord that exists between objects) as a form of telepathy. But there are much more practical ways of achieving telepathy that already exist.

Professor of physics at Columbia University, Brian Greene explains how the idea of multiple universes, or a singular “multiverse”, supports other theories of how our universe came to be.

Quantum computing already exists, but on a truly miniscule scale. We’ll have molecular computers built out of graphene before true quantum ones, says the physicist.

Einstein believed that free will was just an illusion, and that awareness of this lack kept him from taking himself and others too seriously. But Einstein was plain wrong, says Dr. Kaku.

While early searches at the Large Hadron Collider did not turn up long-sought-after particles, there is good reason to believe that supersymmetry will be discovered, says Dr. David Toback.

Attempting to explain quantum theory, physicist Erwin Schrodinger proposed an experiment almost 80 years ago that would send PETA into a frenzy.

This week’s Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate saw physicists spar over superstring theory—a theory of everything which hopes to unite Einstein’s relativity with quantum mechanics.

At one time, it seemed inconceivable that Detroit—the leading automotive center in the world—could ever lose its place on the world stage. But what if Silicon Valley is not ready for the Post-Silicon Era?

The world’s leading particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider, has yet to find any evidence of certain particles that physicists depend on to explain our subatomic world.