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History & Society
Trace how culture, power, and ideas shape societies across time.
In the 1970s, James Lovelock proposed that the biosphere was not just green scruff quivering on Earth's surface. Instead, it managed to take over the geospheres.
And, more importantly, what’s being done to get them online?
What you can learn about media by parodying it from the print era into the digital age.
24mins
“It’s remarkable how weak the correlation between success and intelligence is.” Here’s what skills do matter, from 3 business experts.
Even in the very early Universe, there were heavy, supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies. How did they get so big so fast?
Have you ever noticed how many things you interact with but can’t name? So did we.
Researchers are working nest by nest to limit the threat while developing better eradication methods.
From surviving on wild plants and game to controlling our world with technology, humanity's journey of progress is a story of expanding human agency.
3mins
“Not only does Mother Nature not care about your happiness, she knows that we need lots of negative emotions to keep us alive.” Harvard happiness professor on why suffering IS necessary:
Cats twist and snakes slide, exploiting and negotiating physical laws. Scientists are figuring out how.
Alan Turing and Christopher Strachey created a ground-breaking computer program that allowed them to express affection vicariously when so doing publicly, as gay men, was criminal.
In "Not Born Yesterday," author and cognitive scientist Hugo Mercier makes the case that misinformation is overrated — and other human foibles are underrated.
2mins
“We wouldn’t be able to talk about minerals if it weren’t for the minerals themselves.” Mineralogist Bob Hazen explains how Earth’s rocks can teach us about our planet’s technicolor history.
19 rooms. 1,636 square feet. 1,800 years of history.
"The movement is much bigger than Sam Bankman-Fried, or any one person, no matter how wealthy," philosopher Peter Singer told Big Think.
From inside our Solar System, zodiacal light prevents us from seeing true darkness. From billions of miles away, New Horizons finally can.
9 minutes of cruel history may cure the anti-progress delusion.
Executive coach Jodi Wellman explains how to “make it to the end with no regrets.”
The true story of the shot that "reverberated through England" when science collided head-on with religion.
It's knowledgeable, confident, and behaves human-like in many ways. But it's not magic that powers AI though; it's just math and data.