The Latest from Big Think

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The device employs the same technology NASA uses to locate Cassini's position in deep space. With it, searchers can find people buried under as much as 30 feet of crushed material.
Granted, it's simple and extremely slow compared to its silicon-based counterparts, but its existence marks a major step in the quest towards making ever faster and more efficient computers.
For the first time, a new computer model links climate change to the increased frequency and strength of storms. Scientists estimate the number could increase by as much as 40 percent in the eastern US by 2070.
Scientists have succeeded in creating conditions that cause photons, which don't have mass, to behave like molecules, which do. The interactions between them resemble those that might happen with two lightsabers, and could help advance quantum computing.
Thanks to the efforts of over 83,000 volunteer citizen scientists around the world participating in the Galaxy Zoo 2 project, the latest catalog of galaxy data is 10 times larger than any previous catalog of its kind.
A University of Adelaide student found a relatively simple way to convert the humble-but-environmentally-dangerous plastic bag into a material that has great high-tech potential but is currently too difficult to produce in large qualities.
The brazen terrorist attack by Islamic militants on the Westgate Mall in Nairobi this week was tragic, devastating and emotionally wrenching. It was also, unfortunately, inevitable. No matter how good a job […]
To test the effects of microgravity on astronauts traveling on extended space missions, the agency will pay qualified candidates who are willing and able to stay (mostly) horizontal for 70 days straight.
There's nothing new under the sun, or, to put it another way, there is nothing new about Twitter's 140-character format for microblog posts.
The sunk cost fallacy means making a choice based on a desire not to see your past investment go to waste.
Is it pure dumb luck that we have not had an accident involving nuclear weapons? In fact, we have had many such accidents. 
What kind of people confess to crimes they didn't commit? You might imagine they're sleepless and terrified, with cops telling them there's already proof of their guilt. And you'd be […]
‘All man’s miseries,’ wrote the French mathematician Blaise Pascal, ‘derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone.’ Silence can do sinister things to a human being. […]
Last week a US appellate court sided with a group of public sector employees who claimed they were fired because they "liked" the Facebook page of their boss' election opponent.
Working in collaboration with Tumblr, Phillips' "Paddles ON!" will auction off preselected works of digital art both live and online. It will also display the works in a special show at their physical gallery on New York City's Park Avenue.
The signs, some of which will contains messages like "It can wait," will direct drivers to one of 91 already-existing rest stops and parking areas in the hopes of combating texting while driving.
The 141-year-old magazine announced that it will no longer allow readers to comment on its Web site, citing research to back up its claim that the tone of the discussions hindered the championing of science.
The law, signed by Governor Jerry Brown Monday (Sept. 23), allows them to delete posted content that they might regret when they're older. It's part of a larger measure designed to protect children's privacy.
So my class on technology is beginning to consider skeptical views of the transformative possibilities of biotechnology. One comes from those who say that the evolutionary understanding of nature explains […]
"The more players that want to create original content and finance it," Littlefield says, "the more exciting it is in the world of ideas."