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2mins
What separates a disciplined life from a virtuous one? Psychologist Sarah Schnitker says the answer lies in your purpose.
As we look to larger cosmic scales, we get a broader view of the expansive cosmic forest, eventually revealing the grandest views of all.
Explanations for the cosmic speed limit often conflate mass with inertia.
1hr 13mins
“Nothing about human behavior makes sense except in the light of culture and in anthropology, and we need to understand the cultural component to our behaviors as well.”
The Universe isn't just expanding; the expansion is accelerating. If different methods yield incompatible results, is dark energy evolving?
In this excerpt from "The Story of CO2," Peter Brennan explains how changes in the Earth's ecosystem led to fire, which in turn led our ancestors to become the "fire apes."
Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.
7mins
“The idea of evolution by natural selection is, for me, probably the most beautiful idea in biology.”
When you don't have enough clues to bring your detective story to a close, you should expect that your educated guesses will all be wrong.
2mins
Happiness researchers Robert Waldinger MD, Tal Ben-Shahar PhD, and Peter Baumann explain why the happiest people aren’t happy all the time.
Unlikely Collaborators
10 years ago, LIGO saw its first gravitational wave. After 218 detections, our view of black holes has changed forever. Can this era endure?
In this excerpt from "Tales of Militant Chemistry," Alice Lovejoy exposes how the need for uranium during WWII led the Allied governments to turn a blind eye to colonial exploitation.
The latest "Superman" film sets Metropolis in the First State.
MIT Sloan’s Nelson P. Repenning and Donald C. Kieffer outline their tried-and-tested solution for stubborn workflow blockages.
Designed to map galaxies, the SPHEREx mission's first science result is instead about interstellar interloper 3I/ATLAS. No, it's not aliens.
You are held, shaped, and sustained by a thousand invisible hands.
Venture capitalist and Flickr co-founder Caterina Fake talks to Big Think about why AI won’t make the internet better, her influences beyond tech, and more.
6mins
Virtue is hard to attain, and that’s the point. Sarah Schnitker explains why self-help shortcuts miss the mark.
In our own Milky Way, a recently deceased star creates a ghostly, hand-like shape in X-rays some 150 light-years wide. Here's how it's made.