Latest Articles

Latest Articles

The newest essays, interviews, and features from Big Think.

After a French doctor extracted stem cells from a patient's bone marrow to create blood artificially, the cells were pumped into the patient's body for a successful transfusion.
"As a man is," wrote William Blake, "so he sees. As the eye is formed, such are its powers." No doubt my tumultuous childhood is a part of the reason […]
A drug born of a revolutionary approach to cancer treatment causes rapid weight loss and improved metabolic function in monkeys, scientists have found.
Why are organ sales illegal? Donors of blood, semen, and eggs, and volunteers for medical trials, are often compensated. Why not apply the same principle to organs?
Child prodigy turned inventor turned futurist, Ray Kurzweil is aiming never to die. He predicts that by 2029, computer intelligence will cure all disease and prevent death.
Here's some miscellany to accompany your morning coffee: • 70 major U.S. corporations and civic organizations call for DOMA to be struck down in a friend-of-the-court brief supporting a federal […]
Your whole life, reduced to a single number. That’s the goal of an increasing number of companies that are attempting to analyze specific aspects of your life and quantify certain […]
Whatever the facts of the crimes in this week's pair of institutional scandals (and it bears saying that trials in the Afghanistan "kill team" case are ongoing, while Jerry Sandusky […]
As a former Penn State faculty member, I am overwhelmed and outraged by the stories we are hearing out of Happy Valley.  My colleagues across the country continue to ask me why so many students have rallied in support of Coach Paterno, despite revelations that clearly suggest merely following the letter of a reporting policy is insufficient in a case alleged to be this egregious.  Are Millennials – at least the thousands chanting, “We want Joe” – missing a sensitivity chip?  
Math Problem for Today: 111111 X 111111 = ? Follow Daniel Honan on Twitter @DanielHonan
This post was written by Preetika Rana and originally published on the Wall Street Journal blog India Real Time. Recent claims that the Taj Mahal is in danger of collapsing […]
Let's inject a little lifeblood into the 2012 presidential race. 
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Henry envisions his first days in office.
Everyone has ideas; it's how you execute them that will get you noticed. Ghost writer Jeff Haden has observed the world's greatest businessmen up close. Here are his tips. 
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Melton describes an experiment on parabiotic mice that may hold the key to eternal life for human beings.
A new venture aims to foster stability in war-torn regions through an act of creative destruction: acquiring AK-47s and transforming them into rare jewelry, watches and accessories.
It's a brave new working world for recent college grads. Find out if entrepreneurship is a good option for you by weighing the pros and cons. 
  "All of the cells in the body have this potential to make other kinds of cells. This has led to the discovery of human embryonic stem cells and other stem cells, which we’d now like to use to replace tissue and body parts," says Dr. Douglas Melton.  
Miles Grimshaw didn't get in to the most popular course at Yale this Fall. The course, Great Big Ideas, features the best experts, scholars and professionals the world has to […]
Peter is the co-founder and President of Big Think, an online multimedia portal committed to developing the growing conversation about where we are and where we are headed. In that […]