The Latest from Big Think

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Here's the best idea you'll hear today that you will also wish you thought of yourself. Just as Internet users contribute their 'cognitive surplus' to build sites like Wikipedia, international […]
One of the most talked-about parenting paradigms of the past decade – “helicopter-parenting” - has just taken another direct hit. There have already been early signs of a backlash against overparenting, but now […]
US Forest Service researcher David Nowak is heading up a project that calculates, among other things, the amount of carbon stored, the amount of particulates removed, and its effect on a city's heating and cooling costs.
As the eyes of the Catholic world (and beyond) remain glued to the chimney of the Sistine Chapel (shown above) for the white smoke indicating the election of a new […]
Scientists are hoping that some of 3,000-plus possible exoplanets discovered by NASA's Kepler mission have moons that exist outside a circumplanetary "habitable edge."
Not quite yet...but a new study provides proof that global warming is extending the growing season in the upper Northern Hemisphere, making some areas greener than they have been in (literally) ages.
It could mean an end to rising energy costs caused in part by the almost-complete shutdown of the country's nuclear energy program. However, its effects on the environment are still unknown.
How could we be so clueless about the wealth gap that defines our society?
The 5 Point Cafe, located near the Space Needle as well as Amazon headquarters, may be the first business to bar the augmented reality device from its premises...and it probably won't be the only one.
Observing the Roman Empire crumble from North Africa in the fifth century, St Augustine of Hippo decided that while waging war against fellow Christians was sinful, throwing up arms against […]
A publishing CEO urged his industry peers to bring literary authors and software developers together to create something better than ebooks, which he said were "a boring format that just comes straight out of normal books."
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Neil deGrasse Tyson: I’m almost embarrassed for my species that you can be so blind to everything experts have been telling you and you got to wait for people to […]
Writer Mathew Ingram attempts to dissect a controversial New York Times blog post about the best ways to communicate with others outside of face-to-face conversations.
The days leading up to the start of the papal election process offer yet another demonstration of technology's power in bringing millions of people together.
As the threat of a cyber war with the Chinese becomes more imminent, it's fascinating to consider how much the early stage of this cyber war actually resembles the Cold War […]
By feeding test subjects' likes into a set of algorithms, Cambridge University researchers were able to deduce a surprisingly accurate amount of information about them. Privacy advocates say this should "ring alarm bells" for users.
Next month, a federal court will hear the case of one family whose request was granted, then overturned on the grounds that Germany's anti-homeschooling policy "does not constitute persecution."
The new version, which takes effect today, bans the import and sale of cosmetics containing animal-tested ingredients. Some critics say that certain tests require animals as subjects to ensure safety.
We are not the safe small blue dot we like to think we are, but rather, we are more like a target in a "cosmic shooting gallery."
Are smokers, non-exercisers, non-savers and other such undisciplined people acting irrationally? The conventional wisdom of our decade says yes, of course, they are. That's why we need policies that will […]