The Latest from Big Think

Author Jonathan Safran Foer on the two surprising qualities successful writers need.

The word parenting, as a verb, has only been around since 1958. Developmental psychologist Alison Gopnik examines when caregiving became the art of hovering, and the pitfalls and anxiety of trying to shape children instead of raise them.

1% of all Google searches are health queries. Cyberpsychologist Mary Aiken explains how artificial intelligence diagnostics lead to psychosomatic symptoms, and potentially explain the fourfold increase in iatrogenic death in the US since 1999.

Peel off your tin-foil hat like a Hershey’s Kiss, because Bill Nye has a reality check for the alien conspiracy theorists out there.

Computer-brain interface technology is progressing faster than medical research can reliably understand how it affects human health over the longterm. Still, the technology is really cool.

There's a lot missing from debates and policy surrounding poverty but the biggest deficit, according to Dr C. Nicole Mason, is in honesty. Impoverished people aren't poor because they're lazy, they're poor because social mobility is institutionally suppressed.

George Musser explains the central role of weirdness in physics, and shatters the dreams of those who hope humans can one day tap into psychic powers.

Who are you? Good question. Harvard professor Michael Puett explores the idea of the "self", and how what you believe to be your true nature may actually just be patterns you've fallen into.

Princeton professor Sean Wilentz explains why America has such a staunch two-party system, which was never part of the Framers' plan.

Penn Jillette just got born again – but don't fortify the gates of heaven just yet, because it's his atheism that he's renewed, to account for blanket religious vilification and hate politics.

Bill Nye tackles a tough question that every person alive has been hung up on – what happens after we die? Where does our life energy go?

Take a deep breath, you're in for a ride. Here is Penn Jillette on Libertarianism, taxes, Trump, Clinton, Sanders, Gary Johnson, sex, drugs and Kurt Cobain.

Former FBI negotiator Chris Voss sheds light on communication and indirect messages, the value of empathy in business and in life, and when and how to walk away from a deal.

A lot of us are banking on heaven for ourselves and hell for certain others, but spiritual teacher Rob Bell urges us to think about those concepts as states of consciousness, and rethink the nature of the afterlife.

Billionaires: what have they done for us lately? Well, some of them have developed the tech you're reading this on (scoring good points), but others have gamed the system and nepotismed their way to the bank (bad, bad billionaires).

Harvard psychologist Susan David explains the dangers of fear-mongering, the questionable ethics of journalism in spreading hate politics, and the disturbing way that repetition wears down our brain's resistance to fallacies and hate speech.

Could Pokémon GO be considered art? Journalist Virginia Heffernan believes the game bears the hallmarks of great art — exploration, movement (of the soul or the soles), and a call to instinct.

Bill Nye answers a question submitted by Nick: is it possible to take two giant magnets and use the repulsion force between the two to lift objects into space?

What does a theoretical physicist do all day? Janna Levin shares some insight on perception vs. reality, and provides a glimpse of how she spends her time (hint: doing math).

It's tempting to rush success, but Amy Cuddy, professor at Harvard Business School, explains why setting your goals too big can backfire, and vouches for the value of incremental change and authentic learning over the desire to simply 'win'.