Science and Tech

Science and Tech

Green and yellow abstract scientific illustration depicting molecular structures interconnected with arrows, set against a dark background.
It's deceptively tricky to distinguish living systems from non-living systems. Physics may be key to solving the problem.
A close-up image showing a crack in the ground, revealing a narrow, dark crevice between layers of brown, sandy soil with hints of biocrusts forming along the edges.
Think twice before stepping on that crunchy top layer of soil.
A praying mantis, a marvel of evolution, is gracefully perched on a white orchid flower against a black background.
Some biologists believe natural selection produces animals that are just good enough. Dawkins disagrees.
Open book showing two pages: the left page has a red-toned illustration of early humans, while the right page features a blue-toned photo of an ocean wave, capturing the hyperefficient balance between art and nature.
From hunter-gathers to desk jockeys, we work best when short, intense sessions are followed by lighter fare.
Parker Solar Probe
It would get rid of our hazardous, radioactive, and pollutive waste for good, but physics tells us it's a losing strategy for elimination.
A dense cluster of young stars and bright blue-white spots set against a dark reddish-brown background, with scattered sparkles of light from numerous stars in the outer Milky Way, captured stunningly by JWST.
Almost all of the stars, planets, and interesting physics happens in the inner portions of galaxies. Is that conventional wisdom all wrong?
View of Earth from a spacecraft window with "T-MINUS" displayed in bold text overlaying the image.
These startups, space agencies, and aerospace giants are building humanity's next off-world homes.
Young child sitting on a couch, illuminated by the screen of a tablet they are holding in a dimly lit room.
The digital world will always entail risks for teens, but that doesn’t mean parents aren’t without recourse.
Rows of identical Earth-like planets stretch out into the vast copy multiverse, with a dark starry background visible between them.
Within our observable Universe, there's only one Earth and one "you." But in a vast multiverse, so much more becomes possible.
A stylized digital shield in the center, surrounded by red pixelated designs, with quantum code fragments displayed on the shield. The background has black, swirling patterns, reminiscent of encryption tools at work.
Quantum computing brings significant opportunities — but equally significant cybersecurity risks.
A technician in a cleanroom suit works by a large cylindrical piece of equipment in a high-tech laboratory setting with industrial tools and machinery.
A recent experiment challenges the leading dark matter theory and hints at new directions for uncovering one of the Universe's biggest mysteries.
Satellite image showing a dense cloud mass over the southeastern United States and the Gulf of Mexico, with an inset graph from NOAA depicting hurricane frequency peaking around mid-August to late September, a trend exacerbated by global warming.
The laws of physics aren't changing. But the Earth's conditions are different than what they used to be, and so are hurricanes as a result.
atom illustration
Most fundamental constants could be a little larger or smaller, and our Universe would still be similar. But not the mass of the electron.
Image of Mimas, one of Saturn's moons, partially illuminated. The large Herschel crater is prominently visible on the right side of the moon's surface.
The existence of another watery world in the outer solar system may offer clues to how such seas form — and hope for another spot to search for life.
A collage features a tennis player and a basketball player against a backdrop of financial charts, graphs, and mathematical equations on a checkered pattern.
How Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky cracked open behavioral economics and enlightened all our choices.
Two breathtaking pictures of a galaxy and a star taken by the Hubble telescope, highlighting the beauty and cosmic magnitude that fuels the Hubble tension.
In the expanding Universe, different ways of measuring its rate give incompatible answers. Nobel Laureate Adam Riess explains what it means.
A black-and-white portrait of a man with curly hair, glasses, and a beard is centered against a green and blue background with abstract DNA helix patterns, representing leadership essentials.
Benjamin Oakes — CEO of buzz-worthy biotech company Scribe Therapeutics — joins Big Think for a chat about innovation, human endeavor, and more.
The image shows a bright spot labeled "JADES-GS-z13-1-LA," seemingly an impossible light captured by the JWST, surrounded by measurement markers, including a scale bar for 1 kpc and 0.28 arcsec. Filters and colors are listed at the bottom.
The Lyman-α emission line has never been seen earlier than 550 million years after the Big Bang. So why does JADES-GS-z13-1-LA have one?
A detailed image of two galaxies in space, one with spiral arms on the left and the other, more elliptical, on the right, surrounded by distant stars.
Galactic activity doesn't just arrive when supermassive black holes feast on matter. Before, during, and after all create fascinating signs.
uap ufo UAPs UFOs
Although a great many unidentified sights have been seen in the skies, none have conclusively demonstrated the presence of aliens. So far.
A detailed image of the moon with visible craters and surface textures, set against a dark sky filled with numerous stars.
Finding life beyond our Solar System requires understanding its host planet.
A graph depicting projectile motion with displacement on the vertical axis and time on the horizontal axis. The projectile's trajectory forms a perfect parabola, with initial velocity u and angle θ clearly indicated.
Taught in every introductory physics class for centuries, the parabola is only an imperfect approximation for the true path of a projectile.
A world map displays global climate zones with colors representing varying levels of temperature and precipitation: green for temperate, yellow for arid, orange and red for hotter regions, and blue for wet zones.
The salinity of the oceans is not just a matter of taste. Saltier water behaves differently, too.
A person is giving a presentation at a podium with a large abstract, colorful light pattern displayed on a screen behind them.
Inflation, dark matter, and string theory are all proposed extensions to the prior consensus picture. But what does the evidence say?
A satellite orbits Earth against a backdrop of space. Below, the Earth's curvature and cloud formations are visible, making our planet seem even bigger.
The observation that everything we know is made out of matter and not antimatter is one of nature's greatest puzzles. Will we ever solve it?
A historical timeline featuring notable figures from 1400 to present, including scientists, writers, politicians, and artists. The timeline is categorized by different historical eras.
"The Big Map of Who Lived When" plots the lifespans of historical figures — from Eminem all the way back to Genghis Khan.
A person lies in bed reading a book, wearing a white blouse, in a painting with soft, muted colors.
With the right prompts, large language models can produce quality writing — and make us question the limits of human creativity.
Portrait of an older man with a beard wearing a hat, depicted in purple tones, with scientific and alchemical symbols in the background, capturing the essence of a truth machine.
Why human attempts to mechanize logic keep breaking down.
A storefront with signs for psychic telepathy readings and a phone number. Two white plastic chairs are placed in front. The storefront is pink with a black awning and a large hand sign advertising $10 readings.
Thinking of a number between one and ten? Here's how predictable human responses create the illusion of telepathy.