Words of Wisdom — December 10, 2013

Johannes Kepler on the Earth

“I demonstrate by means of philosophy that the earth is round, and is inhabited on all sides; that it is insignificantly small, and is borne through the stars.” – Johannes Kepler

bigthinkeditor

The most surprising and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every week, for free.

“I demonstrate by means of philosophy that the earth is round, and is inhabited on all sides; that it is insignificantly small, and is borne through the stars.” – Johannes Kepler

The most surprising and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every week, for free.

A healthcare worker wearing blue gloves gently inserts an IV into a man's hand as he lies on a hospital bed, battling lung cancer.

Starts With A Bang

You can’t do your own research without doing your homework first

Here in 2025, many of us claim to come to our own conclusions by doing our own research. Here’s why we’re mostly deluding ourselves.

A silhouette of a person blends into an image of a galaxy displayed in a gold ornate frame on a gray wall.

Thinking

5 scientists on finding meaning in our Universe’s 13.8-billion-year story

“The stars made our minds, and now our minds look back.”

super earth mini neptune transit spectroscopy

Starts With A Bang

Our first “Earth-like” exoplanets probably won’t have atmospheres

Seeking life beyond the Solar System, we first look to the closest star systems with Earth-like planets. Here’s why that’s not good enough.

Starts With A Bang

What our first “Earth 2.0” image will teach us

Each of our three nearest stars might have an Earth-like planet in orbit around it. Here’s what we’ll learn when we finally observe it.

a black and white drawing of two men in a library.

The Past

The other, more important Renaissance you never learned about

A new book by historian and author Paul Strathern argues that the Northern European Renaissance has long been overlooked.

Up Next

Words of Wisdom

Henry Miller on How to Live

“The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.” – Henry Miller (born on this date in 1891)