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The newest essays, interviews, and features from Big Think.
At The Guardian site, Martin Robbins has nailed everything that's wrong with science news on "general interest" websites in this pitch-perfect parody. It gets at the heart of the uneasy […]
"Now that gold has crossed the magic $1,000 barrier, why can’t it increase ten-fold?" Harvard Economics professor Kenneth Rogoff on the world's most unpredictable precious metal.
"Instead of the vast expanses of leisure time imagined by science fiction writers, we now get one hour less sleep per night than our parents’ generation did."
"When Mao Tse-Tung launched the Cultural Revolution in 1966, one of the principal targets of attack were intellectuals whose death warrants were signed by fellow intellectuals in the West."
"What is it about the presumptuous use of 'we' that inspires so much outrage, facetious or otherwise?" Ben Zimmer on the contentious use of the plural subject pronoun.
"The letters reveal that the discovery of the double helix could have turned out differently if the characters involved had a little more information."
"China is pouring another $7 billion into Brazil's oil industry, reigniting fears of a global 'land grab' of natural resources." The Independent on a rising China's geopolitical strategies.
"Amish values of hard work, humility, loyalty, and community make for surprisingly—or maybe not-so-surprisingly—successful entrepreneurs."
"Part of our current malaise is sheer fatigue with the old forms of politics. Can the Comedy Central duo break the mold?" The Guardian on Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert.
"'The average American doesn't realize how much of the laws are written by lobbyists' to protect incumbent interests, Google CEO Eric Schmidt told Atlantic editor James Bennet."
An idea proposed by the Third Way, that government issue an itemized taxpayer receipt, has the support of many commentators who want to know what their tax dollars are used for.
When Maurizio Cattelan unveiled his 30-foot-high sculpture titled L.O.V.E. in front of the Milan Stock Exchange recently, many people were wondering exactly where the love was. The massive hand with […]
Last night I appeared on a panel here at AU with the editors and contributors to the bold new book "The Environmental Politics of Sacrifice." The goal of the book […]
Since its invention in 1859, the escalator has been the most widely used mode of non-vehicle urban transpiration, ubiquitous everywhere from airports to shopping malls to subways. It is estimated […]
Yesterday, Ezra Klein flagged an excellent idea from progressive think tank The Third Way: why don’t we give taxpayers a receipt for their taxes? As The Third Way’s David Kendall […]
Gen. Wesley Clark’s Four-Star Advice on Life, War, Foreign Affairs and America’s Energy Independence
Who better to comment on President Obama's recent decision to declare an end to the United States' prolonged conflict in Iraq than General Wesley Clark? In his Big Think interview, […]
As neuroimaging labs use scanners to reveal more and more details about how the brain works, their findings are increasingly affecting the legal system.
No one knows monsters better than Guillermo del Toro. The director of "Pan's Labyrinth" and the "Hellboy" franchise is renowned for creating fantastical beasts like the terrifying Pale Man, with […]
There's been a lot of great writing about the conservative backlash known as the tea party lately. Matt Taibbi has an astute take on racism and the tea party movement […]
A quickie post, but there were a few things too good to pass up: Twenty Indonesian volcanoes "ready to erupt": Ralph at the Volcanism Blog has a great new post […]