The Latest from Big Think

Text reading "The Latest" in a large, serif font on a light background.
You don't move to a new town, take a new job, or make a new friend to stay the same. But you don't want to lose your soul, either. The […]
When searching for a mate online, singles are more likely to initiate contact with other online singles who are more attractive than themselves. When the market clears, so to speak, […]
When Japanese photographer Daido Moriyama, who works primarily in black and white, encountered a photograph by Mika Ninagawa of Technicolor flowers in close-up during a tour of a museum, he […]
Well, things got busy enough yesterday that the post I was hoping to write just never materialized. Not only did I have the useful academic load, but I also gave […]
Google's next Android-powered phone will contain a chip enabling people to make payments via their handsets. The technology is safer than conventional credit cards.
Religious Americans give a higher percentage of their income to charities and are about 25 percent more likely than secularists to give in the first place. But why?
Why can't you tell when an hour has passed without looking at a watch? Neuroscientists explain why our biological clocks are subjective and susceptible to influence.
A Scottish man in his 60s has become the world's first person to receive injections of foetal stem cells into the brain in order to repair damaged nerve tissue caused by stroke.
State-of-the-art neuro-imaging and cognitive neuropsychology both uphold the idea that we create our "selves" through narrative. In other words, we are our narratives.
Today's top chefs are dedicating their culinary brain power to cashing in on the burger craze. The secret to good taste is high fat content, says The Wall Street Journal.
Exceptions to the trend of scientific progress include research on infectious diseases, space colonization, supersonic transit and commercial fusion power.
As networks of people grow larger, they will usually tend to converge on an accurate understanding of information distributed among them, says a new M.I.T. study.
In his memoirs, Mark Twain criticized counterinsurgency tactics used by the U.S. during the Philippine-American war and called the foreign engagement a 'quagmire'.
'Surrender to the Terrorists, Then Strangle the Economy with Taxes' is the tongue-in-cheek name for a serious plan to create a budget surplus in the U.S. by 2015.
3mins
Genetic testing is advancing rapidly, and we can now find out our risk factor for developing Alzheimer’s. But without a cure or treatment available, what’s the point?
7mins
Studies have shown that you can boost brainpower and brain resilience with vitamins and exercise, and by not smoking. But lifestyle choices alone can't prevent Alzheimer's?
5mins
Alzheimer’s starts in one area and spreads all over the brain, like an infection. Does this mean that it's possible to develop a vaccine?
8mins
Genes such as ApoE4 may signal a risk factor for Alzheimer’s. But how do we separate risk factor from an unalterable sentence for the disease?
5mins
Amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles inside the brain are the best explanation we have for how Alzheimer’s develops.
5mins
Mental decline, on some level, is inseparable from aging. With more people living longer, does this mean everyone will eventually get Alzheimer’s?