Search
Latest Articles
The newest essays, interviews, and features from Big Think.
"Is cosmology a form of theology for a secular age? Cosmology is so popular, not just because of the science, but because it allows us to ask the big questions. It’s metaphysics by other means."
Imagine everyone decided to stop producing fossil fuels tomorrow. Global warming thresholds calculated by climate change scientists would not be crossed. Danger lies in future production.
"The sequel to the 30-year-old 'The Official Preppy Handbook' reminds us that you don't necessarily need to have money to have class." Columnist Megham Daum on her favorite book.
"Too expensive, too heavy and unnecessary: Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer hold copilots in low regard. So, now the company plans to replace them with a computer."
In the midst of the circus surrounding Pastor Terry Jones’ plan to burn Qurans on the anniversary of September 11th, perhaps the most disturbing aspect is the emerging meme among […]
It has been known for some time that religious belief and behavior affect the brain. But can we pinpoint specific chemicals, genes and clusters of neurons that give rise to religiosity, or to atheism?
It is technically illegal for the government to torture prisoners. Almost no one would deny that. Section 2340 of the federal criminal code makes it a crime punishable by up […]
In Greek mythology, the gods sometimes punished man by fulfilling his wishes too completely. This is the first line of Henry Kissinger’s 1957 Nuclear Weapons and Foreign Policy. Always controversial, […]
After a busy day where I finally send off my paper on zircon and the magmatic evolution of the Okataina Caldera Complex... A new Smithsonian/USGS Global Volcanism Program Weekly Volcanic […]
Enjoying a piece of music or recognizing the face of a loved one seems like a simple, instantaneous process. But like all things associated with the brain, they aren't. Both […]
Former CBS news correspondent Jere Van Dyk talks about the survival skills he used to get through a 45-day kidnapping ordeal in Afghanistan where his life was threatened daily.
3mins
Literature has always been slow to adapt to new technologies, which on the one hand might be its saving grace but could just as well lead to its demise.
1mins
"Portnoy’s Complaint" by Philip Roth and "Kalooki Nights" by Howard Jacboson are Safran Foer’s picks for the best novels about the Holocaust—even though they are not explicitly about the genocide.
2mins
Safran Foer likens the experience of watching films of his novels to hearing his own voice on an answering machine—except far stranger.
3mins
Comedy may be difficult to pull off, but comedians can at least gauge their success by the audience’s laughter. For writers, there is no similar criterion by which to judge […]
3mins
Though some claim factory farming is necessary to feed the Third World, it requires seven calories of input to generate one calorie of food.
2mins
Safran Foer says Pollan is the most important and sensible food writer in American history, but he disagrees with Pollan over the idea of "table fellowship." "We’re past the point […]
4mins
A recent study calculated the environmental costs of a 50-cent fast food hamburger to be 400 times its price at the register.
3mins
Eating meat is a part of our cultural and personal identity—think Christmas hams or Thanksgiving turkeys—but the factory farming system is not sustainable.
Two volcanoes are keeping our attention right now: Sinabung, Indonesia Halfway around the world, activity at Sinabung continues to be cause for increasing concern. The volcano is experiencing larger and […]