The Latest from Big Think

Text reading "The Latest" in a large, serif font on a light background.
Science's signature moves share something with good poetry. Good metaphor-making can make geniuses of both kinds. But bad metaphors can mislead whole fields.  
Spontaneous, deep talk on surprise topics. On this week's episode of Think Again - a Big Think podcast, National Book Award-winning Author Jacqueline Woodson and host Jason Gots discuss collective amnesia, organized religion, the power of photographs, and why never being bored is bad for for kids.   
This is a cyborg stingray. It’s as big as a penny, guided by a laser, and moves on its own when exposed to blue light. And it’s the brainchild of Kevin Kit Parker.
The Perseid meteor shower is at its peak—a stellar show that occurs every August and can be seen by anyone living in the Northern Hemisphere. But what if we didn't have to wait till August or the next meteor shower--what if we could create our own?
Using incomplete facts to spin a false narrative and mislead the public is the modus operandi of a political liar. “I’m not a natural leader. I’m too intellectual; I’m too […]
A noted neuroscientist's new study illuminates what remarkable invention made our brains the largest of all the primates.
Turns out terror attacks and political grandstanding are not increasing panic. It might just be a cooptation of our memory system.
Genetic engineering, utilizing CRISPR, promises to change human lives by bringing an end to disease while irreversibly modifying our gene pool.
Recent studies have found that humans can feel concern over a robot if they think that it is in pain. This indicates that we can feel as much empathy for a mechanical person as a biological one.
Clinical psychologist Steven Hayes explains how embracing your anxieties keeps them from overwhelming you in panic attacks.
200 meteors per hour is only three per minute, and with a more-than-half full moon out, you might want to stay inside. “My dad took me out to see a meteor […]
NYC health officials estimate that fine particulate matter, often inhaled while biking or running in the city, contributes to nearly 2,000 premature deaths and more than 6,000 hospital visits per year.
More helpful inhabitants call our bodies home than previously known.   
Science can’t seem to disprove the giant alien megastructure some have proposed as an explanation for Tabby’s star, AKA, the WTF star, AKA KIC 8462852.
If you think you can just add up its components, you’re 99% short! “Resistance to the organized mass can be effected only by the man who is as well organized in […]
While cupping hit the mainstream thanks to Olympic athletes, the practice has a religious history in Islam. 
The benefits of reading should not be understated, even when it comes to living a longer life. A new study finds that reading books in particular returns cognitive gains that increase longevity.
Japanese doctors reveal how AI software helped save the life of a cancer patient.
Language expert David Bellos talks about the difficulties of learning about languages other species may be speaking.
For the central 8,000 light years, there are practically no tracers of new stars. What gives? “This suggests a lack of Cepheids in the inner 2.5 kpc region of the Galactic […]