The Latest from Big Think

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"Consciousness of course is one of the largest questions of brain structure and function. And we approach it now perhaps differently than we have in the past with our new tools. But I’m not convinced that we understand it any better," says Joy Hirsch.  
Yesterday I received from an old friend and partner the document below. As most of you, if not all, maintain accounts at both banks and brokers, or at least one […]
"Climate change poses a serious challenge to business, and business must be part of the solution," says Branson. The business mogul says change is happening too slowly. 
American universities face tougher challenges than ever before but it is rare that a bold leader emerges from the academic ranks. How can higher-education overcome its crisis? 
Stan Richard's insistence on strict rules may seem at odds with running a successful, creative advertising agency but his company has created some of our time's most memorable ads. 
With the successful docking of its Tiangong space module and the Shenzhou-8 space craft this week - the so-called "Space Kiss" - China has shown the world that it is […]
The other day I came across this article from Bloomberg News, from which I learned something that surprised me: a large black market exists for human organs, in spite of […]
--Guest post by Jan Lauren Boyles, American University doctoral student. With looming austerity measures that would triple the cost of UK tuition hanging in the balance, Jon Offredo joined the throng of […]
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Ethan Philbrick performs at The Nantucket Project. Ethan grew up on Nantucket and has been playing music voraciously since he was 4 years old. Ethan has played music in a […]
Two articles have appeared recently on the topic of sperm snatching. The first is a new blog here at Big Think and the second is an article in yesterday’s Daily […]
I devote a chapter of my book to “Workhorse Wives.” To be perfectly clear about my definition: a Workhorse Wife marriage doesnot mean one with a stay-at-home dad who pulls […]
Members of Congress aren’t like you and me—they’re substantially richer. Roll Call reported this week that the total net worth of Congress was more than $2 billion in 2010. That’s […]
By studying aging mice, scientists now believe that aging cells secrete poisons that damage surrounding cells causing age-related diseases. Removing those cells prevents disease. 
Markets shuddered when George Papandreou, Greece’s prime minister, said he would call a referendum on the latest bailout package being offered by Europe’s economic powers.  What scared the markets most […]
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Comedian Maureen Langan entertained the audience at The Nantucket Project, a festival of ideas that took place in October on Nantucket, Massachusetts.
Gustav Klimt's "Litzlberg on the Attersee" sold for $40.4 million to the din of jobless and struggling union workers picketing outside Sotheby's auction house in New York City last night. […]
In the kitchen of the future, there will be no such thing as waste. A cyclical ecosystem will use the methane power of leftovers to provide energy to lights and appliances. 
An extreme-ultraviolet microscope for creating the next generation of microchips has been created by scientists in collaboration with leading semiconductor manufacturers.
Statisticians and business professors have developed a mathematical function to detect the presence of stock market bubbles. LinkedIn was a bubble, they say. Gold prices are not. 
Several of the most recent recipients of the Nobel Prize in physics, chemistry and medicine share their work habits, their inspiration and what else put them on the path to Nobel gold.