Latest Articles

Latest Articles

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

"For all his swashbuckling assaults on what he called the 'booboisie', Mencken was the first important writer to probe and relish middle-class American life."
"If al-Qaida terrorists are stuffing PETN into underwear or packages, that must mean that they do not have access to cutting-edge biological research or nuclear bomb components."
"That there are seemingly endless metaphors and universal life lessons that can be gleaned from baseball is one of the many things that make the game so interesting."
The immune system has been found to target viruses inside cells, suggesting new strategies against infections including the common cold and winter vomiting bug."
"Female politicians, candidates and leaders face blatant sexism and misogyny in both corporate media and parts of the blogosphere."
Spiegel sees the U. S. as despondent, hopeless, pessimistic and with a political system plagued by lobbyism and stark hatred, and incapable of reaching consistent decisions.
"We are at a crossroads in the music business... But I see the glass as half-full: the internet and social networking are new avenues for the next Bob Dylan to be born on."
"The pieces of our universe fell into the places where they are, not because of a guiding hand and a grand design, but through mere accident," says physicist Victor Stenger.
The pioneering feminist acknowledges that people are frustrated with the Democrats, but warns that the "extreme" policies of the Republican party are bad for everyone—especially women. 
From the Ohio State University Research News Service, a discussion of issues closely followed here at Age of Engagement.  See also the full report. COLUMBUS, Ohio – Evidence is no […]
Greenwashing is like whitewashing. Whitewashing means covering up any black marks on something's record to make it seem better than it really is. By the same token, greenwashing means making […]
In late August 1893, painter Paul Gauguin returned to Paris after spending the previous few years in Tahiti, the Polynesian paradise that propelled his art to a whole new level. […]
Claims about the size of rallies on the National Mall are an important framing device that advocates and journalists use to communicate the strength and impact of a movement. Of […]
I've been at the 2010 GSA Meeting for the last day or so and as usual, there is more information that I can handle. However, there is a lot of […]
I'm still at GSA 2010 - I'll have another post with some news/facts from the meeting - but my lack of a computer yesterday and the fact that my hotel […]
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"Any group of people that has been subordinate absorbs the idea of our own subordination and that it is natural and comes to think that the only way to survive […]
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When Sarah Palin branded herself as a "mama grizzly," she was unaware of the supreme irony: grizzly bears are the animals that most embody reproductive freedoms, even reabsorbing their own […]
The journalist, campaigner and on-air reporter for the Iranian Press TV channel in London, recently became a Muslim. Here she talks about Islam, the West and her brother-in-law's legacy.
"A democracy is strengthened when its citizens are confronted with the raw truths that follow from the choices of their elected leaders." The New Yorker on WikiLeaks.
"England’s economic crisis is a great deal like ours; its response has been dramatically different." Judge Richard Posner on the U.K.'s austerity measures.