The Latest from Big Think

After watching a few episodes of the new HBO show Treme, I have discovered that even though I am African American, I seem to have more in common with Creighton […]

Atheism makes for "great blood sport"—at least that is what writer Yann Martel believes.  But the writer is far more interested in what cannot be reasoned, and in his Big […]

How many times have you felt guilty when someone talks about the grand crises in the world: water, energy, food, poverty? You assiduously recycle your bottles, cans and paper, but have a nagging feeling you should be doing something more. Don’t beat yourself up. It’s hard to help when you don’t understand the exact nature of the problem. Now there’s a way: games. Or to be more accurate, serious games. Yes, it sounds like an oxymoron but serious games are becoming the most popular tool to engage citizens to collaborate and solve world challenges.

A growing number of artists are "rummaging through the life sciences in search of materials, ideas, cosmic verities, tragicomic homilies, personal agency, a personal agent, a way to stand out in the crowd."

"How could a writer whose prose breathed in life so fully take his own?" asks Michael O'Donnell of David Foster Wallace. A new book tries to illuminate the writer via a five-day road trip.

"It's time for Democrats, even liberal Democrats, to start looking at unions and unionism with deep skepticism," writes Mickey Kaus.

"When parents today worry about their child not meeting developmental norms, especially for motor skills, they're too often worrying needlessly," writes Nicholas Day.

The idea that one's disposition can be analyzed by looking at their handwriting is considered spurious, yet medical graphology—the use of handwriting to detect disease—has diagnostic validity.

Time "flows at different speeds in different places and that is the key to traveling into the future," writes Stephen Hawking, who speculates about how we might construct a time machine.

Scientists have discovered that shooting high-powered lasers into the sky can create the germ of a rain cloud, opening the door to eco-friendly cloud manipulation.

John Tierney looks at research indicating that male chimpanzees use "tools" (crackling leaves) to show females that they are ready for sex.

"If the United States is to have a sustainable toehold in Asia, Washington has to start paying serious attention to some countries in the region that are not China or India," writes Ernest Bower.

When it comes to compliments "we often hear what we want to hear," writes Elizabeth Bernstein. If we are feeling secure it's easy to register the praise, but not in times of self-doubt.

Nick Kristof has an idea for fixing the Catholic Church: Turn it "upside down"! Take power away from the "old boys' club" at the Vatican, where a dark cloud hovers […]

"If a regime is hellbent on turning a journalist into a spy," Paul Martin writes, "it can simply put him on trial in a closed court, announce a verdict, list […]

The Human Body Shop may be just around the corner: In 50 years, the advancing technologies of medicine and tissue engineering could change everything.

The economist remembers a famous Theodore Roosevelt quote: "Fear the emergence of a financial aristocracy."

Because of structural changes, crises could now become more frequent, and the most obvious source of danger now is in emerging markets.

The system of beliefs and incentives caused the financial crisis, says Simon Johnson.

A core group of bankers have become so powerful they can do enormous damage to society—and they really don’t care.