The Latest from Big Think

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Carl Sagan's baloney detection kit taught us how to separate good science from the work of charlatans. In 2026, that matters more than ever.
A laptop made of a rough, brown, stone-like material with green squiggly lines emerging from its screen, set against a black background.
AI is not a rupture in history, but a continuation of intelligence emerging where information becomes systematically arranged.
A man in a red and gold robe, resembling Julius Caesar, kneels on the ground, reaching out as several men in white robes with raised weapons surround him.
Julius Caesar conquered Gaul but his emotional intelligence was pitiful — and there’s plenty we can learn from his leadership deficiencies.
A young child with curly hair and a blue shirt stands in front of a cloudy sky with two floating soap bubbles and a pink fabric draped behind them.
6mins
Happiness collapses the moment hardship arrives. Joy doesn’t. Historian Kate Bowler explains why joy can coexist with pain — and why that makes it a stronger, more fulfilling emotion.
Silhouette of NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft with antennas poised against a colorful planetary surface, sparking dreams of alien life.
No claim has even made it halfway up the Confidence of Life Detection (CoLD) scale, but 21st century science is just beginning to unfold.
Side-by-side comparison of the Pillars of Creation in space, showing Hubble's visible light image and JWST's infrared image. Labels indicate "Hubble (Visible)" and "JWST (Infrared)".
Here in our modern Universe, it's cosmic dust that forms planets, complex molecules, and enables life. But how did the Universe create it?
A book cover with colorful shapes set against a mysterious Dark Forest backdrop.
Writer and media theorist Bogna Konior connects cosmos and computer by reconsidering our eerily silent Universe.
The word "chaos" is repeatedly written in orange over a beige background, with a large, rough black scribble overlaid in the center.
In this excerpt from Think Like a Mathematician, Junaid Mubeen explains how tiny actions can shape complex systems, revealing the limits of prediction and control in our lives.
star vs planet vs brown dwarf
13.8 billion years have passed since the Big Bang, but many stars will survive for longer than that. What's the longest-lived a star can be?
An older person sits on a chair against a white backdrop, with a colorful outer space scene digitally added around the background.
1hr 3mins
Astronomer Jill Tarter explains why SETI is really about technology, patience, and learning how to tell alien signals from our own.
A woman in white approaches a large, winged creature with a human face—an embodiment of ancient archtypes—partially hidden behind a rock in a mountainous landscape.
I'm definitely a Kitsune, but would a Kitsune actually say that?
A craftsman hammers metal on a wooden block; beside him, a cylindrical copper container—showcasing Kaikado mastery—rests against a green background.
What 150-year-old Japanese workshop Kaikado can teach us about finding calm through focus in an age of distraction.
A woman in a light pink dress sits indoors sewing, surrounded by soft furnishings, with a blue-white chalk circle drawn around her upper body.
In this excerpt from How to Live a Meaningful Life, Bill Burnett and Dave Evans discuss how flow transforms ordinary moments into deeply human experiences.
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22mins
"Rationalism is the idea that, in order to truly know something, you have to be able to describe it explicitly."
Two bright celestial objects, including the brightest planet, shine in the night sky, partially obscured by clouds and surrounded by smaller, faint stars.
Even at its faintest, Venus always outshines every other star and planet that's visible from Earth, and then some!
A woman with glasses stands in profile against a dark background with illustrated yellow stars scattered beside her.
Kelly Corrigan on why humility fuels curiosity — and how to cultivate these qualities in an age of certainty.
John Templeton Foundation
A dense field of distant galaxies and bright stars against a black background, as captured in a JWST early galaxies deep space telescope image.
Many collaborations have used JWST to take deep-field images: some wider and some deeper than others. Here's how it can surpass them all.
A collage featuring climbers helping each other, a pink compass rose, and a smiling man in a suit, all with a muted color palette.
Members
Great companies are built on intention, not instinct. Music mogul and entrepreneur Steve Stoute, often called “the CEO other CEOs turn to for advice,” shares what it takes to become a strong leader.
Book cover for "AQ: A New Kind of Intelligence for a World That's Always Changing" by Liz Tran, featuring a beautifully blurred hummingbird.
Liz Tran makes the case for a new kind of intelligence that addresses our ability to handle today’s ever-fluctuating challenges: AQ.
connected entangled pair
A century ago, quantum physics overthrew our view of a deterministic Universe. A profound 21st century theorem closes the door even further.