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A new book, Coming Apart by Charles Murphy, cites statistics that suggest the class divide in America is growing. But why? And what to do about it? Gary Becker and Richard Posner weigh in.
What is the Big Idea? Eating meat or fish can make a crab out of you, according to a study published by Nutrition Journal. Omnivorous diets are high in arachidonic […]
They should just rename Fox News the “Black Presidents Scare The Shit Out Of Us” network. If nothing else, Sean Hannity is consistent—he inundates the airwaves every day with “Obama […]
Welcome to an ongoing feature on the Floating University blog, FU Asks, where we open up the academic debate on our e-learning platform to the Big Think community. This week […]
Not long ago one of the writers I follow on Twitter posted something like this: “My apologies for the totally un-clever nature of this tweet, but does anyone have a […]
There are few American art festivals bigger than the Whitney Biennial, which has run as either an annual or biennial since 1932. Where art fairs such as Art Basel Miami […]
As China's economy grows, money is refining the Chinese palate and American products are flowing into Chinese markets like never before. Milk, soybeans, nuts—practically everything.
In November, I wrote about Aliaa Magda Elmahdy, the Egyptian student and atheist who posted nude photos of herself as a protest against Islamist suppression of women's bodies and voices. […]
The cost of crude oil is already 16 percent higher than at the beginning of 2012. How much of a threat do rising oil prices pose to the gradual economic recovery? And what about Iran?
The love for globalization that pervades some American circles often overlooks just how unfair income redistribution is under global trade networks, says a Harvard political economy professor.
A year after the Fukushima nuclear crisis, surveys show that more people around the world oppose nuclear power than ever before. Yet industry is pushing ahead. Who will prevail?
So we read in THE WALL STREET JOURNAL and elsewhere that one in four divorces now separate people over fifty. The divorce rate as a whole has plateaued or has […]
Human irrationality is an important and fascinating subject, especially when it's pitted against the assumption that people are rational, which still dominates modern life. Sometimes though evidence of human irrationality […]
“It is a sentimental error, therefore, to believe that the past is dead; it means nothing to say that it is all forgotten, that the Negro himself has forgotten it. […]
As long-time readers know, except on rare occasions, I don't write about my personal life on this blog. This isn't because I'm trying to be mysterious; I just don't think […]
U of Mass Psychology PhD Tony McCaffrey advises us to seek the obscure in finding a creative solution to a vexing problem. What does he mean exactly? It is a two part process...
Given that the brain's synaptic components last but a short time, it has been a mystery to scientists how the brain stores memories, which can last nearly an entire lifetime.
When people recall how virtuously they have acted in the past, they are more likely to permit themselves self-destructive or anti-social behavior, says new research on the dark side of goodness.
According to the University of Southern California, fMRI brain scans show that both sides of the brain are involved in completing creative tasks. One more brain myth bites the dust.