History & Society

History & Society

Trace how culture, power, and ideas shape societies across time.

how many planets
From size to mass to density and more, each world in our Solar System is unique. When we compare them, the results are truly shocking.
A person is lying down in the dark and looking at a smartphone held above their face.
What are we supposed to do when experts look at the same data yet reach starkly different conclusions?
A digital rendering of a black hole with a glowing, distorted light accretion disk around its event horizon in space, set against a pitch-black background.
A recent paper in the journal Physical Review Letters claims to prove that a "kugelblitz" is not possible.
perseid meteor shower mt lemmon adam block
Peaking on the night of August 11/12, up to 100 bright meteors per hour will be visible. Here's how to make the most of it.
Close-up of a tree trunk with natural holes resembling a face, set against a green leafy background. This curious formation invites contemplation on the legal personhood of nature itself.
The idea of awarding legal personhood to nature has received renewed attention in the contemporary environmental justice movement, but much contention remains.
Illustration of a rocket with a blue circle logo crashing into the ground, resembling the Quibi crash, with financial chart elements in the background.
Quibi was so focused on foresight they forgot the basics of hindsight.
A collage of four glitchy video stills featuring the same man with various dramatic expressions, overlaid with green and purple digital distortion effects. A play button icon rests in the center, hinting at the lessons of hindsight within.
The rise and fall of Josh Harris — the genius who anticipated the digital revolution just a little too soon.
A man's portrait, segmented with rectangular sections of a vintage yellow world map overlaid on the image, embodies a sense of leadership. He is wearing glasses and a tie, exuding an air of wisdom and hindsight.
David Novak — the cofounder, and former CEO and chairman, of Yum! Brands — celebrates the benefits of active, lifelong learning.
A smiling bald man is positioned in front of a collage featuring a large clock, a graph, and a timeline spanning from 2004 to 2010. The background is primarily yellow with various black and white elements, reflecting Horowitz hindsight at its finest.
Big Think asks startup legend and VC heavyweight Ben Horowitz to reflect on his bestseller "The Hard Thing About Hard Things."
lunar horizon glow clementine
Earth, the only rocky planet with a large, massive satellite, is greatly affected by the Moon. Destroying it would cause 7 major changes.
Close-up of a human eye on the left, and a blurred image of a person without clothing on the right, depicting themes that border on pornography.
Everyone has to learn about sex somehow. Today, billions of people are learning about it from porn.
View of Earth from space showing a partially illuminated hemisphere with detailed ocean and cloud patterns against a backdrop of stars.
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.
Three Masai men, dressed in traditional attire and adorned with beaded jewelry, gather around a smartphone in an outdoor setting.
And, more importantly, what’s being done to get them online?
Abstract digital collage featuring a hand holding a phone with news content, binary code, and a stylized onion logo against a green and blue pixelated background.
What you can learn about media by parodying it from the print era into the digital age.
smbh growth evolution from direct collapse seed
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?
Close-up of a blue shoelace with silver aglets, transforming ordinary things into art against a plain background featuring black squiggle and circular sketch marks.
Have you ever noticed how many things you interact with but can’t name? So did we.
Close-up of a hornet with black and yellow stripes on its body, perched on small white flowers against a green background.
Researchers are working nest by nest to limit the threat while developing better eradication methods.
A collage featuring ancient Egyptian art, handprints, geometric sketches, and prehistoric tools, alongside the text "Human Agency" and the number "2" in the top right corner on an orange and white grid background.
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.
Sequential illustrations showing the motion of a cat falling and landing on its feet, demonstrating the righting reflex.
Cats twist and snakes slide, exploiting and negotiating physical laws. Scientists are figuring out how.
A vintage computer mainframe with multiple interconnected units, cables, and knobs, displayed in front of a red background on a wooden floor.
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.