Roger Ebert says no, but Jonathan Coulton weighs in on the power of some games to move you.

Ze Frank’s ability to use technology to bring complete strangers together for a ridiculous project.

"My fame is very targeted. It's not local because it doesn't have anything to do with physical space, but it's local on the map of ideas and taste. Walking down […]

From "The Future Soon" to the Mandelbrot song, an inside look at some of Coulton’s biggest hits.

Jonathan Coulton noodles until he comes up with a musical idea that he likes.

An recent English study has found that exposure to secondhand smoke makes non-smokers more vulnerable to psychological distress and hospitalization for mental illness.

"There was a great fashion in the last century, and it's still with us, of the unenjoyable novel," says Martin Amis. "And these are the novels which win prizes."

Google's new translation tools are helping to make a truly universal Internet by translating pages into 57 different languages; the company is developing photo and voice recognition, too.

After working in Tanzania, a British doctor reflects on the pitfalls of expressing excessive amounts of sympathy, even in the face of abject poverty.

"Today's conservatives have conjured a mythic Reagan who never compromised with America's enemies and never shrank from a fight. But the real Reagan did both those things, often," says Peter Beinart.

Diet, naps and exercise are three areas important to a good night's rest, says Dr. Nerina Ramlakhan. Eight hours isn't a magic number; relax and let your body determine the right amount.

Downloading free music may eventually disenfranchise listeners, says Cris Ruen at The Big Money, because musicians will be desperate for whatever corporate patronage comes their way.

Levels of testosterone in women partly determine how much they trust men, according to a Dutch study published in the U.S. The results support skepticism as an important adaptive trait.

In an effort to spice up the classroom and dodge patient privacy concerns, psychology professors are teaching pathologies of fictional characters, like Twilight's vampire, Edward.

New companies are creating sophisticated digital backups of individuals that can, in some sense, make one immortal, even if copying consciousness remains beyond current technology.

When the Arno River overflowed in 1966 and flooded Florence, Italy, an art apocalypse nearly took place in that grand Renaissance city. Countless works, including Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Doors of Paradise,Donatello’s […]

Every year, The Buckminster Fuller Challenge awards a $100,000 prize to a project that has the potential to solve humanity's most pressing problems and significantly improve human quality of life. The […]

Would days spent reading Proust make us more attentive? The Times cover story today implies, Yes. New research argues against the opposing onslaught: video games, iPods; inevitable, en masse drift […]

Green pre-fab is getting a lot of attention right now in New York City. Hop downtown to the Financial District, and you’ll notice, amidst the suits and skyscrapers, a peculiar […]

Pianist Hilda Huang, 14, visited Big Think today to tell us about her love of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. In March she became the youngest person ever to […]